Missing Him
by Baby Porcupine-Cute but DEADLY
Summary: Jack has a necklace. He's never told anyone why he wears it, or what is really is. When Jerry decides it would be a good idea to take Jack's necklace just to see how he reacts, he gets a far more emotional reaction than they expected. The next day, Jack finds a note in his locker, which is only the first of many. The notes turn out to be a part of a sinister 11 year old plan...
1. Friday some of Saturday

**Hi! I'm a new author on fanfiction, but it isn't the first story I've created. I have a whole file for story ideas on my desktop, it's just that this is the first story I've actually made. I don't really know how to make separate chapters and stuff yet, so please don't be mad at me if I screw something up. Also, I may be changing my name around a bit until figure out one that will stick, so I'll have a signature sentence (SS) at the end of every chapter (The SS will always be a weird fact about me, my little sister, or my best friend. Note that is may be more than one sentence). Please no flames, only constructive criticism. And, i have a problem with making too many compound sentences. Ok, that's all I have to say. Enjoy the story!**

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**Chappie 1**

_Jerry's POV_

It was just a normal day at the Bobby Wasabi dojo. I was bored, since I hadn't had anyone to mess with for a while.

"Hey, guys," Jack says, coming into the dojo. As usual, his necklace is around his neck, the one he's worn ever since we met him. It's a cool looking orb that's a little bigger than a marble that starts out blue and fades into a pale green and looks like it has small white flakes in it. It's on a simple black string. Then I wince.

I actually sounded poetic for a second there.

"Hi, Jack," Eddie and Milton say, pausing in their sparring with each other.

"Hey," Kim says, coming in from the girls' locker room.

"Hello, Jack," I say, suddenly getting an idea. He looks at me suspiciously. "What do you want, Jerry?" he asks. I feign shock.

"Can I not simply greet my friend?" I ask. He narrows his eyes, going over to his locker.

"You're planning something," he replies, taking off his necklace and putting it in his locker, and taking out the duffel bag that had his gi in it. He says he does this because the necklace gets in his way when we're practicing or sparring or whatever.

"I'm watching you," he says, going into the boys' locker room. As soon as I'm sure he's in there, I run over to his locker.

"Jerry, what are you doing?" Kim asks, suspicion taking over her voice.

"Opening Jack's locker," I reply. I bang the locker in a certain way (think Oliver in the Hannah Montana episode '_Miley Get Your Gum'_) and it opens.

"Woah! How did you do that?" Eddie says, amazed.

"Forget that. Why are you in Jack's locker?" Milton asks, as I rifle around for what I'm looking for.

"Aha!" I say as I pull it out.

"Jack's necklace? What do you want with that?" Eddie asks curiously. I grin maliciously.

"Just wanna see how he reacts when he finds out it's missing," I reply.

"Maybe you should put it back. If he finds out you took it, all that's gonna be left of you is the memory of whenever you say 'WOOOOO'," Milton warns. We all look at him.

"How do you know that?" Kim asks. Milton let out a low whistle.

"You should have seen what he did to this one guy who insulted his necklace. Like, in a non-joking way. Then called him a girl. Then shoved him. Then—" "What did he do?" I ask, cutting him off.

"I don't know. The guy moved that same day."

There was a moment of silence.

"Cool," I finally say. I close Jack's locker, then put his necklace in mine. I turn around and grin.

"This is gonna be _goood_."

**Later that day...**

Rudy claps loudly. "Okay, guys—" "EHEM!" "— and girl. That was a good practice. Now, GO HOME! I have an appointment with Stephanie Meyer."

Silence.

"Isn't she an author?" Milton asks. Then he stops. "Wait— Are you reading _Twilight_?"

Rudy looks away. "Noooo…" he says in a way that lies and really means yes.

More silence.

"IT'S A GOOD SERIES, OKAY!" he yells after we start laughing. He runs into his office and slams the door. Jack sighs in the way that you do after you finish laughing, and goes over to his locker, opening it. He digs around in it for a few seconds as his expression quickly goes from humored to panicked.

"Where's da— I mean my necklace?" he asks frantically.

"What necklace?" I ask, playing innocent. I briefly wonder what he was going to say at first, but then that wonder disappears, replaced by amusement at the current situation.

"My necklace that I wear every day…" he trails off as if in lost in thought. Then suddenly, within seconds, I find myself going from standing idly beside a bench, to pinned up against the wall by Jack.

"WHERE. IS. IT?" he growls. Even though I'm a few inches taller than Jack, he scared the crap outta me when he glared at me like that.

"I d-don't know, man. If I did I'd tell you," I reply, refusing to back down from my daring theft. He releases my shirt, still glaring at me.

"If I find out that you're lying and you took it, I _WILL _make you regret it," he says in a low voice, then starts to walk away. Milton gives me a looks that says 'I told you so'.

"What's so important about that necklace anyway?" Eddie asks.

_Kim's POV_

Jack froze. From the way everyone was positioned in the room, I'm the only one who saw Jack close his eyes as he bowed his head slightly and tightened his fists. "It's… special." As he walks away into Rudy's office, I was the only one who noticed that his eyes were watering. Was he about to … cry? Then I shook my head. That's impossible. Jack Anderson does _not _cry. Not when he sprained his ankle, not when he broke his wrist, not when Frank practically punched his leg, and definitely not now.

_Jack's POV_

"Rudy, my necklace… it's gone. I can't find it," I choke out, as I close the door behind me and sit on the couch. He starts to say something, but then holds up a finger, walks to the door, and bangs on the door as hard as he can.

Four chorused cries of "OW!" was heard.

"EAVESDROPPING ISN'T POLITE YOU KNOW!" he yells at them. Then he turns back walking over and sitting next to me.

"Are you gonna be alright?" he asks.

"I don't know…"

"Aww, come here," he says, opening his arms. I hug him, burying my face into his chest, but I refuse to let the tears come out. I'm not a very emotional person, but that necklace was no ordinary necklace…

"Here," Rudy says, taking something out of his pocket and giving it to me. It's the keys to the dojo. "You can stay behind looking for it. When you're done, turn off the AC and lock up behind you." I smile at him.

"Thanks, Rudy."

"Don't mention it."

**The next morning (Saturday)**

_Kim's POV_

"Ha ha ha ha, that pickle never saw it coming," I laugh, as Eddie, Milton, Jerry and I walk to the dojo. **(1)** We stay at the door, waiting for Rudy to get there so he could open it. Rudy never gets here on time. Jerry leans against the door casually, but he wasn't expecting it to open.

"Rudy never locked up last night?" I ask, confused, as Jerry gets up rubbing his sore butt. Rudy always remembers to lock up. And looking up, I see that the lights are still on. And it's freezing in here, meaning that Rudy never turned off the AC. What the heck?

And then I notice him, on his side on the mats. "Oh my gosh, Jack!"

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**(1) When I wrote about the pickle, I happened to be watching that episode of iCarly where they were laughing at the guy who prank his dad and made "blood" squirt out of the pickle.**

**Did you like it? Hate it? Wanna chuck your computer out the window because it's that bad? Is my spacing screwed up? Tell me, tell me, TELL ME! Please...**

**SS: I once ate thirteen turkey drumsticks in a row. The strange thing is; I didn't throw up. O.O**


	2. Saturday morning

**Nothing much to say... ON WITH THE STORY!**

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**Chappie 2**

"Oh my gosh, Jack!" I exclaim as I run over to his side, with the other guys in tow. I roll him over onto his back. He looks fine, just out cold.

"Do you think he stayed up all night just looking for his necklace?" I ask, looking up at the guys. They shrug. I grab his shoulder to shake him awake…

…only for him to grab my wrist. Again- What the heck?

"Jack?"

No answer.

I lean in close to see anything that signaled he was awake. A flicker of the eyelids, a change in breathing, anything. As I'm looking at his face, I notice that there are faint tear streaks on his cheeks. He was crying? Oh, Jack… I don't tell the other boys that he was crying, since they'd tease them forever about it.

Instead I pull back, putting on an amazed expression. "He's still asleep," I say.

"No way! Really?" Milton asks in awe. I nod.

"Aww," Eddie and Jerry say at the same time. "I want reflexes like that."

I manage to pry Jack's hand from my wrist. Jerry picks Jack up and lays him down on the couch in Rudy's office, Milton and Eddie following. As he does so, something falls from Jack's other hand. I pick it up. It's three pieces of paper, taped together in such a way that allows you to fold and unfold them.

The first is a photo, a picture of a slightly younger looking Jack, his mom, and a man I didn't recognize, but looked kinda like Jack.

_That must be his dad _I thought. I suddenly realize that Jack **never **talks about his dad. His mood always changes slightly whenever one of us mentions a dad, and we never saw him on father's day last year. And in the photograph, around Mr. Anderson's neck, was Jack's necklace. The second paper was a letter addressed to Jack from his dad. It reads:

**_Dear Jack,_**

**_Hey, buddy. How've you been doing? I miss you and your mother so much. And I'm bored. All I've had to do all day was stare at the clouds and make pictures out of them. We haven't done much fighting, though, so I guess that's good. _**

_Jack's dad must have been in the army _I thought.

**_Oh, and guess what? I'll be home by Father's Day! You better get our water guns ready, because it's really hot out here and I'll need some cooling off. :) So, I'll bet you noticed that I put my necklace in this envelope. I thought you'd want to see some pictures that my friends and I have taken since we got here. "How do I do that?" you might say. Well, that necklace is not only a necklace…_**

**_Love,_**

**_Your Awesome Dad_**

_'Jack's dad sounds like a cool guy' _I thought. I look at the last piece of paper. It is an old newspaper clipping. I quickly scan the article (because it's a long one). To sum it all up, Jack's dad was brutally mugged and murdered driving home on father's day by a gang— a gang that was dressed up as clowns.

_'Oh my god' _I think. _'__He's coming home from a war only to get murdered by a group of sadistic psychos. There's no way that Jack was telling the truth whenever he told us why he was afraid of clowns. Irony sucks_.'

I run into Rudy's office to show the clipping to the guys. When I get in there, I see that Jack keeps thrashing around on the couch. It looked like he was having a nightmare. And his face is flushed. I put a hand on his forehead; it's burning hot. He must have gotten a fever from being in the cold too long. It didn't help that he was lying right under the AC when we found him. Stupid air conditioner.

"You guys, he's having a nightmare, why didn't you wake him up?" I exclaim.

"We tried," Milton says. "But his stupid reflexes are getting in the way. Watch." He goes over to Jack's side and puts a hand on his shoulder. Jack's hand balls up into a fist and shoots out sideways, punching Milton in the stomach. The red-haired boy groans and falls to the floor, clutching his stomach in pain. "See?" he moans out.

I sigh. "I guess we'll figure out something later," I say. "But we might as well do something to help. Jerry, go turn off the AC. Milton, go get a cold wet paper towel. Eddie, get a blanket," I order, wanting to help Jack at least a little bit.

"Yes, sir," Jerry says. I glare at him, and he waves and runs out of the room. They soon come back, having done their requested jobs. I cover Jack with the blanket and put the wet paper towel on his forehead. It didn't do much, but he at least stopped thrashing around.

I hand the three papers to the guys. "Read these. Jack was lying about why he's afraid of clowns." Then, I pull the Jack's necklace out of my pocket. Jerry had given it to me the day before, not trusting himself not to lose it.

_'Jack's dad said this wasn't only a necklace. Sooo…' _I turned the orb this way and that, and noticed a line going across it all around in the middle. I pull, trying to pry it apart. Nothing. I tried twisting it, and it worked. Half of the orb came off, revealing it to be the cap of a flash drive.

Excited now, I walk over to Rudy's computer and plug the flash drive into the USB port. I click yes on the dialog box that pops up. Two files appear. One called 'Friends' and the other called 'Family'.

I'm suddenly hit by a wave of guilt. This is obviously private if Jack never liked anyone saying anything about it.

But in the end, curiosity gets the best of me and I click 'Friends'. Another two files pop up. One labeled Seaford and the other labeled Georgia. I click Seaford. Well over one hundred files pop up, labeled as either dates or a specific event. I click one that says 'Randomness:)'.

A bunch of pictures and videos appear. I immediately recognize the first photo from when Eddie won a bucket of candy and ate it all in one day. I laugh at the memory of that hilarious day. He was so hyper that he was bouncing all over the dojo for four hours.

I'm suddenly snapped out of my reminiscing by Milton's voice saying "That's so sad." I look up. Milton is staring at Jack sympathetically. Eddie then finishes the article, and Jerry soon after. Both have somber expressions on their faces, and we have a brief moment of silence for Jack's dad.

"So what is the necklace really?" Jerry finally asks, trying to lighten the atmosphere in the room.

"A flash drive," I reply, motioning them over to the computer. I get up out of the chair, and go over to the couch where Jack is. Lifting his head up, I sit down, and then put his head on my lap. His face looks scared, and every now and then he would say something. I lean down, my ear next to his mouth.

"Daddy…" he whispers. My heart broke as I sit back up. A lone tear makes its way down his cheek. My heart shatters into a million pieces. Jack is the toughest, funniest, cheekiest, nicest, smartest, and most down-to-earth guy I've ever met. Seeing him looking so vulnerable right now… it just isn't right.

I start running my hand through his soft hair, smiling when he huddles closer to the touch instead of punching me away.

"Mmm… I won't let them hurt you guys… especially you Kim," he mumbles. I freeze. What did he mean? His calm turns to nightmare again when I stop rubbing his head.

"No… no!… NO! Take me, not Kim! Please! Please…" he trails off as I start rubbing his head again, and I mull over his words.

"Ooooh, Kimmy's in love," Jerry says, waggling his eyebrows.

"Don't call me Kimmy," I growl. His eyes widen and he nods fearfully. I sigh.

If Jack was up all night, then who knows when he would wake up? Then I get to thinking. If Jack's karate instincts are dominant when he's asleep, then that means he has to have some other instincts as well. They're just not as strong. Like when I was rubbing his hair. His natural reaction was to move closer to it, instead of defending himself against it. He didn't, or at least his body didn't, feel like it was in danger. So, if I avoid doing something that would make him feel as if he was in danger, then I could wake him up.

I blink. Wow. I think I'm smarter than I give myself credit for.

I decide to start by moving my hand from his hair to his cheek, stroking it softly. He lets out a small moan. I hesitate, then lean down and kiss his cheek. His eyes flutter open.

"… Kim?" he mumbles sleepily.

"Yeah, it's me," I reply.

"Why am I in Rudy's office?"

"We found you unconscious on the mats. I think you stayed up looking for your necklace."

Silence.

"Jack, why didn't you ever tell us?"

"… tell you what?" he asks.

" About your dad. What your necklace really is. The truth about why you're afraid of clowns."

He froze. "How do you know about that?"

I hold up the papers taped together. His eyes widen.

"You… read them…"

"Yeah, we did, and we know it's a huge invasion of your privacy, but you could have at least just told us. We could have avoided saying anything that would make you upset."

"That's just the thing I don't want," he sighs.

"Huh?"

"Sympathy. Pity. Whatever you want to call it. I hated the way the people at the funeral looked at me like I could break down any minute. Like… I was made of glass."

As soon as Jack says that, Eddie and Jerry start singing that line from 'Skyscraper' by Demi Lovato. They both shut up when Jack and I glare at them.

"I just couldn't deal with it," Jack continues, "and neither could mom. So when we moved here, the only person we agreed to tell was Rudy." He runs a hand through his hair. "God, I miss him so much…"

Right at that moment, I just lean in and hug him. I don't tell him anything. I don't have to.

That hug already says _'I'm there for you.'_

He freezes, not responding. For a minute I'm sure that his reflexes were gonna snap out at me. But then he slowly untenses and melts into the hug.

We pull away blushing furiously when we hear Milton snap a picture on his iPhone and Jerry does his little 'WOOOOO' thing.

"Sorry, man," Jerry says, holding out Jack's necklace with the cap replaced. "If I knew, I wouldn't have taken it."

Jack accepts his necklace from Jerry, staring at the blue-green orb intently and rolling it in between his fingers.

"So…" he says, suddenly clenching it in his hand so hard that his knuckles turn white. The slow, calculating tone of his voice screams _"DANGER! DANGER!", _and I figure out what he just realized. "You _did_ take my necklace… and you lied to me about it." He still had that slow, even tone, but now you could clearly hear the threat of death.

Jerry's eyes widen, and he's smart enough to take a step back. "Wh-what are you doing? I said I was sorry!"

Jack narrows his eyes. "Oh, you'll be sorry. You'll be very, very sorry."

Jerry runs out of the room, with Jack on his heels. I decide to just sit in here instead of finding out what is about to take place, so I use the opportunity to snatch Milton's phone away from him so I can delete the picture. After a moment's hesitation, I send it to my phone and then delete it. I hand Milton's phone back to him.

Seconds later, I guess Jack finally caught Jerry, because there is a scream, six thumps, and then silence. After a minute, Jack walks into the room. He doesn't say anything to Eddie, Milton or I, just flops down on Rudy's couch and falls asleep.

So, the three of us go out to see what Jack did to Jerry, but the tall, Latino boy is nowhere in sight. I sigh, just happening to look up, but then gasping in shock.

Jerry is pinned to the ceiling by Rudy's katana, a bo staff, and four of the trophies that our dojo has won, but luckily none of them pierced Jerry himself. Said boy is as pale as a ghost.

"Jerry, how the heck did he even get you up there?" Milton asks.

"I… don't know… but if Jack ever offers to tell you to tell a story about a pink haired little girl… SAY NO! God, i'm so freaking scared of elementary schools now..."

We nod. Suddenly, the bo staff falls. It is followed by one of the trophies, Rudy's katana, and then all the other trophies. Jerry falls to the ground with a scream.

"… well that solves the problem of getting him down." Eddie finally says, just as Rudy comes into the dojo.

"Whoa… what happened here?" he asks, walking over and picking up his katana. We all just point to his office, where Jack lies asleep. Rudy looks at us confusedly, before walking into his office.

"Oh, Jack. Why didn't you guys wake him up?" Before we can warn him, we hear him yell, and he staggers out of his office, clutching his stomach.

"Man, he packs a punch," Rudy groans, before falling to the floor.

* * *

An unnoticed camera in the corner of the zooms in on the four friends as they laugh. At the Blacks Dragons dojo, Sensei Ty leans back in his seat. Laughs are heard coming from the TV screen he is watching.

"So, Jack's main weakness is his necklace, huh?" he says to himself. He slowly turns around in his spinny chair. **(I know that sounded stupid, just work with me here!) **

"You better watch out, Jack. Your necklace WILL be mine." *cue evil laugh*

* * *

**Should I add in a chapter about Jack looking for his necklace? I have an idea for it, but... hmm.**

**SS: My little sister is currently reading ****_iHave a New Best Friend Chapter 1 _****by swirlylolipop. It's a Wizards of Waverly Place/iCarly crossover. Sounds interesting...**So? Continue? Tell me in a review!

**(10/8/12 edit: I changed the kiss in this chapter to a hug because it just seemed kind of out there. Also, i got rid of the a/n that i wrote that asked if i should continue this story because I obviously am. To those of you who are reading this chapter after Monday, October 8, 2012, then disregard this author's note. :P)**

**(12/29/12 edit: Just found out that Jerry is Latino, not Hispanic (even though i really don't know the difference) so i changed that.)**


	3. Sunday afternoon

**Ok, I'm gonna start trying to update every Saturday. To LiveYourPassions and LoveShipper, whom i was PMing yesterday; yesterday i thought was Friday instead of Thursday. So, when I told you I would update tomorrow, I was really trying to tell you I would update on Saturday. But, since you were expecting an update today, i gave you guys one. Hope you're happy! Stupid guilty conscience... :P**

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_Kim's POV_

"Oh my gosh, I completely forgot we have a history test on Monday!" I exclaim as we walk out of the dojo.

"No problem. We can just study at my house. Mom should be fine with it," Jack says, shrugging.

"I can't," Jerry says. "I have to practice for a dance competition in two months. Me and my mom are going up against—" He pauses here, striking a dance pose and finishes his sentence. "—the Momba Mommas."

"Oh cool, what dance are you practicing?" Eddie asks.

Jerry lets out a single laugh. "Our dance was perfected and polished a week ago. We're not worried about the competition. What we're practicing is not throwing up when we see those ladies in their skin tight swim suits. Last time we went against them, we got disqualified because I puked and messed up the dance floor. I couldn't help it though; them ladies are old, ugly, and sagging." We all shudder at the thought.

"Sorry, I gotta say no, too. I have to visit my grandmother again," Eddies states dejectedly. "This time, though, I'm bringing cheek guards!"

"I'm free up until six. Then I have to go watch my aunt play bingo," Milton says.

"I don't have anything else planned," I say, after reviewing my schedule in my head.

"Ok, then. You guys can come over when ever you're ready." Jack says. **(1)**

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_Milton's POV_

Later, Kim, Jack, and I are all in Jack's room. Kim's lying on the bed, Jack is sitting on the floor against it, and I had rolled Jack's computer chair over to where they were.

So far, we had gotten nowhere. I already know all this stuff, so I'm trying to quiz both of them on the information. But they keep getting distracted. It was frustrating me so much that I finally decided to try another method.

"You guys, how about we play a sort of game?"

That got their attention.

"Sounds fun."

"What do we have to do?"

"Well, we need a bunch of blank index cards," I say, making this up and developing the game in my head. "and… the vocab flashcards we were supposed to do."

Kim hands me her flash cards. Jack goes over to his computer desk, opens a drawer, and gets out an unopened pack of index cards. I open the pack taking out about twenty, and write down all the questions on their study guides on the lined sides. There's one question (and answer) on each card. I grab Kim's cards, happy to see that she didn't write anything on the back sides of them. Then I get some more, completely blank cards, and shuffle them together with the question cards and the vocabulary cards.

"Ok. This game is called 'Zoink'—" I start to say, but I'm cut off by Jack.

"Zoink?" he snorts. "What is this, Scooby Doo?" He starts laughing, but apologizes when he sees my look.

"Anyway," I say, spreading out the cards out the cards in rows on the ground. "you choose a card, and I pick it up and read the question or vocab word. We're gonna try a buzzing-in type thing. But, since we don't want to bother your mom, you're gonna... throw your hands up in the air like this." I throw both hands up into the air, similar to what you do when you're on a roller coaster.

"... you're kidding me right?" Kim asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope. I call on whoever threw their hands up first. If you get it right, you get a point. If you get it wrong, then the other person has a chance to get it right. If you pick up a blank card, then that's a Zoink and you can't answer the next two cards, whether you know it or not. So, you wanna play?"

"Sure."

"Ok!"

We had a hilarious time, especially because Jack and Kim look so ridiculous throwing their hands up like that. But pretty soon, though, I had to leave.

* * *

_Jack's POV_

Four hours later (it's now about ten PM.) Kim and I are alone and extremely tired. At some point, I had found myself on my bed with Kim. We tiredly exchange question and answer back and forth.

"…1987. Why did the Jews want to live in Palestine?" I say, yawning. Contrary to the fact that I'm exhausted, my heart is actually kinda racing. I'm on my bed, with my best friend, who also happens to be my crush...

…What? I'm a teenage boy. You can't blame me for my imagination going wild.

"Because Palestine was home to the Jews thousands of years ago, and after the war ended, they slowly started migrating back to the land," she replies in monotone. "What does 'partitioning' mean?"

"To divide up a land into smaller pieces representing different ethnic or religious groups. What year did the Ottoman Empire get broken up by the Middle Eastern government?"

No reply.

"Kim?"

Still no response.

I look up. Kim is fast asleep. I smile wearily, picking up our notes and setting them on the floor. I get my blanket out from under me and drape it over her body because I notice that she's shivering. She turns in her sleep towards the wall with her back towards me, snuggling into the thick material. Without even thinking about how it would look to my mom if she walked in, I turn towards Kim and fall asleep.

* * *

_No POV_

Michelle Anderson walks downstairs and into the kitchen to make herself a sandwich, having been reading for the past two hours. Her eyes dart past the digital clock above the oven to where the bread is located on the counter. She looks back at the time in shock. _11:57 _it reads, with the little green dot next to_ PM_ highlighted. Shouldn't Kim have gone home by now? The mother creates and eats her sandwich. Then, she goes back upstairs to Jack's room, where he and his best friend are studying.

Or at least, she thought they were studying.

But when she opens the door, all she sees is Jack on his bed. He appears to be asleep. Michelle is puzzled. She doesn't remember Kim leaving, and the blonde girl's stuff is still in his room. She walks over to her little black belt's (Jack hates the nickname, but his mom still calls him it anyway) bed, wondering what exactly he is doing. The sight she sees on the bed makes her heart swell.

Her son is fast asleep on his bed, with Kim beside him. Jack, being the gentleman that his mother raised him to be, had given the southern belle **(sp?)** his blanket and his pillow. He used his left hand to cushion his own head. His right hand is resting lightly on the girl's waist. **(2)**

Mrs. Anderson smiles. She sees the way that her sons face always brightens when Kim walks into the room, how he always blushes slightly when they're very close together, how he always listens with rapt attention when Kim is speaking to him. The mother also knows that Kim is the same way. She wishes the two would just admit that they like each other and get it over with.

She suddenly remembers that she should call Kim's parents. After all, it's just past midnight. She goes downstairs again, picking up the home phone. As if on cue, it rings before she can dial the number. She quickly presses talk, hoping it didn't wake the sleeping teenagers.

"Hello?"

"Michelle, hi! It's Diane."

"Hi, Diane, I was just about to dial your number,"

The two women chat for a while, before Kim's mother asks about Kim.

"She's fine. She fell asleep with Jack."

"… with Jack?" It's more of a statement than a question.

"Don't' worry, they didn't do anything bad. It appeared that Jack had given Kim his blanket and his pillow," Michelle reassures, not saying anything about her son's hand on Kim's waist. Diane had the right intentions when it came to her daughter, but she was a bit over-protective.

"Oh, ok… I guess you shouldn't wake them then. They must have studied hard."

"They did… how about I come over and get some of Kim's stuff so she can just come over when she's ready? It's save you the trouble."

"You would do that? Thank you so much. I'll get her a change of clothes and her toothbrush and get them ready so you can pick them up."

"Ok, see you in a bit."

"Bye."

Michelle hangs up the phone and grabs her keys off the table. She goes out the door and into her car, driving the fifteen minutes it would take to get to the Crawfords' house. Diane is standing on the porch with a bright green tote bag in her hand.

"It's got her hairbrush, her toothbrush, her phone charger, and the clothes I know she would wear herself tomorrow if she got the choice," Diane says, listing everything in the bag. Michelle smiles for the second time that night. Kim and her mother have the exact same fashion sense; not too girly, not too boyish.

"Thank you, have a good night."

"You too, and please tell Kim I love her."

"No problem."

Mrs. Anderson drives back to her house. She goes upstairs again, back into her son's room. She opens the door. She starts to walk over to her son's bed when her foot hits the boy's skateboard. She freezes, desperately hoping that she hadn't woken the two up. The mother hears the two shifting on the bed. She stays in her frozen position, not moving a muscle. When no more movement is heard, she looks up. She sets the bag on the floor next to the wall, and takes the step that would cover the distance between herself and Jack's bed.

Kim had turned around and snuggled into Jack, her hands lightly grasping his shirt and laying slightly on top of him. Jack had wrapped both of his arms around her waist protectively. He has a completely serious expression on his face while Kim's is a bit more serene.

Mrs. Anderson grins; she can't help herself. She quickly goes to her room and comes back with a camera in her hand. She takes a photo, forgetting to turn off the flash. The bright light briefly illuminates the room. Kim doesn't move, but Jack stirs. He grunts and holds Kim tighter. Satisfied, Mrs. Anderson finally leaves the room and goes to her bedroom to sleep. She suddenly smiles, imagining the expression on either of the teens' faces when one of them wakes up.

* * *

**(1) When he says "You guys" he was talking about Milton and Kim. Just thought I'd explain that because when I checked over my writing, I thought that sounded a bit confusing.**

**(2) I can definitely picture this scene. Can you? :)**

**Ok, so i guess that was technically considered fluff. I'm not sure... But 'Zoink' scene was inspired from a studying game in sixth grade and something that happened to me few weeks ago in Social Studies. With the game in sixth grade, the name of it actually is 'Zoink'. We used the game as a class study session. The whole class was divided into groups, and each group had a letter as a name (occasionally, we got to choose names. I remember one time where a group had "The Flying Ninja Kitties" as a name. Good times...) with an exception of one student who would be at the board. The board had numbers on it. It was however many questions was on the test/quiz, plus some extras to be 'Zoink's. The groups got called on one by one, and each got to choose a number. If the number was a Zoink, then their turn gets skipped. If the number was a question, then they got time to answer it. Once they decide on an answer, they call it out. If it's right, the group gets it right, they get a point. If they get is wrong, then the question goes to the next group. If _they _get it wrong, then get it it goes to the _next _group. This can only happen one more time before the teacher has to tell the answer to the question. When the numbers on the board runs out, whoever has the most points wins. As for the other thing, we had a basically free period where we had to study for a test. We were put in groups; mine consisted of Malik (Laid back; can be lazy; was in my sixth grade SS), Gracin (Quiet when it comes to answering questions in class; laid back; friend but not exactly close), Skyler (quiet; kinda shy; she's new, came in the middle of the school year, but we're friends), and Dymon (i don't really know her, but as far as i know, she's pretty outgoing; was in my sixth grade SS). After wasting fifteen minutes unsuccessfully trying to get them to focus long enough to start studying (Skyler was reading _Catching Fire_, and the other three were chatting about... stuff**), **I get an idea; a game. I mean, who doesn't want to play a game, right? So i get my index cards (that's what the test was on) and announce i have invented a game. I explain the rules; there are definitions on the lined side, and their words on the blank side of the index cards. When i revealed one, you have to throw your hands up in the air (the class was already loud enough as it was without us banging on the tables). If you get it wrong, it goes to the other person. We played for points. Skyler didn't want to play (reading, and she had to go to the nurse at some point, maybe to take some medicine) and Gracin just flat-out refused. So, Malik and Dymon played. Dymon won the first time and the second time. So, now you know where i got Milton's game from.**

**...**

**Holy crap, this must be the longest author's note in the history of the world. *sweatdrop* Sorry. **

**Oh, and I'm not doing the SSs anymore because my name is officially permanent. See you guys next week! **


	4. Monday

_Kim's POV_

The first thing I notice when I open my eyes is that the light in the room is coming in from the wrong place. If I'm in my room, then the morning sunlight would be coming from my behind me, not in front of me. I look around.

I'm in Jack's room. How did I get here? The last thing I remember is…

Oh.

I'm suddenly aware of the sound of water. I only notice it because it stopped… if that makes any sense. There's a moment of silence, and then Jack comes out of his bathroom. My eyes take in every detail of his body. No shoes, black jeans **(1)**, a pale blue towel rubbing at brown locks, and a bare chest.

A tan, flat, lean, muscled, shirtless, chest.

I have to fight the urge to go and run my hand over his slightly noticeable abs.

He slings the towel over his shoulder, looking up and freezing. "Hey, Kim… You're awake," he says awkwardly. As if I didn't know that already.

"Wait, do you remember…" he trails off, and a faint crimson taints his cheeks.

"What do you mean?" I inquire, wondering why he's blushing. "The last thing I remember last night is falling asleep."

He lets out what I think is a sigh of relief, which only confuses me even more. That confusion disappears when my inner girl forces me to glance down at his stomach again against my will.

A smirk graces his features. "Like what you see?" he asks, doing a weird little hip roll. I feel warmth blooming in my cheeks, and he laughs. My eyes widen as I remember something.

"I never came home last night! My mom's gonna kill me!" I say, throwing his blanket off of me and leaping out of his bed.

"Don't worry, my mom's got you covered," he reassures me. He gestures to a familiar green bag that is sitting against the wall. I walk over to it and open it. On top of everything else is a note that says:

_I'll pick you up from the dojo like normal. Have a good day at school._

_Mom _**(2)**

"Oh… okay," I say, as Jack grabs a blue and black plaid shirt out of a drawer. "I guess I should go get ready."

* * *

_Jack's POV_

"So, did you guys have a good time last night? Because Kim obviously thought it was better than going back to her house," Milton says as we walk down the halls of the school, smirking when Kim and I both blush.

"How did you know I never came home?" Kim asks. She raises an eyebrow and the crimson tint disappears.

"All my aunt does all day is sit at the window and watches people," the red haired boy explains. "Except for if she feels like watching _Jerry Springer _or _Maury. _You know that we live right across from each other, and she knows that we're friends. When she didn't see you come home last night, she asked me where you were."

"She watches my house?" Kim asks, looking a bit disturbed.

Milton shrugs. "She's got nothing better to do."

"… that's kinda creepy."

"Well, hopefully you didn't _do_ anything…" Jerry says, putting emphasis on the word '_do' _and raising his eyebrows suggestively. Kim punches him in the arm.

"At least you guys got to study," Eddie says, frowning. "Every time I tried, my grandma told me to go do a new errand." He changes his voice to make it sound whiny and old. "Do the dishes! Start the laundry! Feed my parakeet! Fix my TV! Fold the laundry, and I don't care if it's not done yet! Sing me the alphabet! Bake me a cupcake! Make sure it's pickle flavor, too!"

I open my mouth to comment on that last one, but he interrupts. "Don't even ask how I pulled it off."

"I successfully managed to look at a picture of those disgusting old ladies without throwing up!" Jerry says proudly.

We arrive at our lockers. "Ok, then Jerry. Good for you." Kim says, patting his shoulder.

I put in my combination and open my locker. A small, lavender colored piece of paper falls out. Puzzled, I reach down and pick it up.

_Hello, Jackrabbit._

_How do you do?_

_You look just like her,_

_Little Jackie times two._

To anyone else, the strange sounding poem would make no sense. To me though, it was like a punch in the stomach. Only one person calls… no, _called,_ me 'Jackrabbit'. She disappeared eleven years ago. Yet, whoever wrote this note knows the nickname. I try to convince myself otherwise. '_It could be just a coincidence'_ my brain tells me. Ok, I've convinced myself.

It's the last two lines of the poem that unnerve me the most. '_No… it's not possible…they couldn't possibly know about her…'_

_"_Jack, are you okay? You're looking a little pale," one of my friends ask, worried. I don't even answer.

_'It's not about her, it can't be about her, whoever wrote this is just trying to mess with me, it's not about her, it can't be about her…'_

_"_Jack?"

'_Whoever wrote this is just trying to mess with me…'_

_"_Jack!"

_'It's not about her…'_

"JACK!" A hand lands on my shoulder.

"Ha!" I exclaim. I snap out of it and grab the hand, my finger automatically finding a vein that would temporarily paralyze it. It's a little trick that my grandpa taught me. I figure out that it's just Kim, and drop her hand.

"Sorry. Reflexes." I realize my other hand is gripping the note in a vice-like grip. I loosen it up.

"Are you okay? What did that note say that got you so freaked out?" Kim asks.

"…it's nothing," I say, grabbing the books I need out of my locker. "Just… someone that's probably trying to mess with me_._" I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

_'Calm down. It's not about her. Don't get your friends all worried about you.'_

Kim, as well as the rest of my friends, still look a little suspicious. But they let it the matter go. I get the books I need out of my locker and shut it, walking down the hall into the boys' bathroom.

I push open the door and walk over to one of the sinks, dropping my bookbag down next to me. I look at my reflection in the mirror. A lean, brown-eyed, tannish boy with two brown freckles on his cheeks stares back at me.

Everyone saw me as this boy.

No one, except for probably my mom and Rudy, knew about the years of suffering and mild depression from the death and disappearance of two very important people in my life.

No one knows that if I didn't have karate as an emotional outlet, I'd probably just be a depressed loner with no friends.

No one knows anything about me.

* * *

_Kim's POV_

We're in History, and I'm worried about Jack. He's been...out of it since he read that note. He's in four out of my seven classes, so I would notice if something was wrong. He's looked spaced out all day, staring at the board but not really seeming like he was actually seeing it. I'm glad this is the last class of the day. I'm defiantly going to interrogate him about this.

Mrs. LeQuack passes out the test. Jack and I are the first ones done, having drilled the material into our brains yesterday night. I glance over at my best friend. He's fiddling with the note that had fallen out of his locker earlier. I hadn't even noticed that he took it out. I dig around in my bookbag for a piece of paper.

_Jack, what's going on in your head right now? _I write on it. I fold up the piece and toss it onto his desk. It takes a few seconds for him to take notice of it. He looks at me questioningly, opening the note. I nod.

He quickly reads it and scrawls back a reply. _A lot._

_Like? _I prompt him to continue.

_My family. The jerk that wrote the note._

_Why does it upset you so much? Is it a threat or something?_

_It might as well be._

_Can't you just tell me?_

It was a little while before he answered me. _It's… personal._

I couldn't help but get a little mad. Why can't he tell me? We're best friends! If it's so big of a secret, I won't tell anyone. Angrily, I reply back:

_Like your dad was?_

As soon I flick the note back over to him, I regret what I did. Bringing his dead dad into this was a low blow. But it's not like I can go back in time and fix it. A flash of hurt crosses his face, before his expression goes blank.

_Yes. _**(3)**

_Jack, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that._

_Don't worry. I know exactly what you meant it like. _His face tells me he didn't.

Before I can apologize again and explain myself, the bell rings. He quickly packs up his stuff and turns in his test, walking out of the room. I sigh.

I really messed up. Something light purple on the floor catches my eye as I get my books and shove them in my book bag.

It's the note.

I bite my lip. Just like before I chose to look at Jack's necklace slash flashdrive, I'm hit by a wave of guilt as I pick it up.

_'He's your best friend though.' _My brain reasons. _'Read it. You want to help him, don't you?'_

Can't argue with that logic.

So, I bend over and pick it up, shoving it in my pocket. I finish up the rest of my packing and turn in my test. I walk out of the classroom just as Jack skateboards past me with like five teachers following him, yelling. I can't help but smile. He's most likely going to get detention for this.

Good ol' Jack.

On my way to the dojo, I take the note out of my pocket. It's a bit crumpled. I read it.

Then I read it again.

Then I read it _again._

Why would this simple poem upset Jack so much? It doesn't even make sense. Then again, it could have some hidden meaning that I'm not seeing. The boy can be a bit mysterious at times…

* * *

_Rudy's POV_

As I watch my students in the dojo, I can't help but notice two things.

One, Jack is giving Kim the cold shoulder. He's not saying anything, but I can see it in his stiff body posture, and the way he's ignoring the apologetic looks she's sending his way.

Two, is that besides the fact that he's ignoring Kim, Jack seems distracted. Like, _really _distracted. I can tell because it's mostly his reflexes doing his sparring for him. The skills that his grandfather drilled into him is shining through our regular practice stuff. Heck, he even pulled a move that paralyzed Jerry's hand! After Jack apologized profusely and assured his Latino friend that it was just temporary, I decided to draw the line.

"Jack, come meet me in my office," I say. He follows me in, and I close the door.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

I stare at him.

He sighs. "No, I'm not."

More silence from me as I wait for him to explain.

"There was a note in my locker at school this morning. It kinda freaked me out."

"What did it say?"

He doesn't answer.

"You don't wanna tell me?"

"Not really…"

"Well how do you expect me to help you?"

He shrugs.

"So…"

"Don't worry about it. I'll probably get over it eventually."

"It's the 'probably' I'm worried about."

"Rudy, just forget about it. I'm fine."

"Ok…" I let him go, watching him as he walks out of my office.

"I hope you really are okay, Jack."

* * *

**(1) I felt uncomfortable putting him in boxers. *nervous laugh***

**(2) To those of you that might get confused, the note is from Kim's mom.)**

**(3) When I wrote this, my little sister, who was reading over my shoulder, was all like "OOOOOOOOH!" :P**

**Oooh, so who do you, my good reader, think wrote the note? Is Jack depressed? Who is this 'she' that Jack is so freaked out about? The poem doesn't even make sense!...**

**Or does it?**

**Send me your theories on the answers to these questions, you'll find out the real answers all in good time. Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha!**


	5. Tuesday,Wed,Thursday,and Friday Evening

**First things first:**

**My apology.**

**I'm really really REALLY sorry you guys, but my family's wireless internet has been down for a long while now, and i update from my laptop. So, yeah. All of you deserve a double update, but i can't do that since Chapter 8 isn't finished yet. TT-TT. **

**Okay, onto the normal stuff! Chapter 7! Whoo! I'd like to thank all of you that reviewed. They make me as happy as a baby monkey in a field of bananas (which just creates an adorable mental image =3). But anyway, if you guys like any of the following shows:**

**Danny Phantom (BP: **Who DOESN'T like DP?**) (LIL SIS: **Me.**) (BP: **You suck**) (LIL SIS: **Who's BP?**) (BP: **Baby Porcupine.**) (LIL SIS: **Oh.**) (BP: **Idiot.**) (LIL SIS: **I know you are but what am I? DOODY FACE, DOODY FACE, DOOODY FACE!**) (BP: **O.o**)**

**Xiaolin Showdown**

**Kim Possible**

**Kingdom Hearts (I know that's not a show but it's in there too)**

**Dragon Ball Z or**

**Ben 10,**

**then you should check out typhoonboom08's ****_Valour Gaurdians _****series. The first one in it is called ****_Valour's Light._**** I swear, the awesomeness of the series will blow your (metaphorical) socks off. I once again have been forgetting the disclaimer. Take it away, Jerry.**

**Jerry: **My pleasure. Yo, man, Baby Porcupine doesn't own us. We are our OWN people!

**BP: **Not exactly. You gotta say/do whatever's on the script.

**Jerry: **Shaddup. *sulks*

**BP: **Ignore him. On with the story!

* * *

_Jack's POV_

_"No! Leave them alone!" I screamed, as those evil clowns took her and Kim away. I futilely struggle against my iron restraints. _

_"It's me you want!"_

_Shadows surrounded me. _

_"Aww, did you hear that?" sneered the largest shadow. "Little Jackrabbit wants us to leave them alone."_

_"Only _she_ can call me that! Let them go!"_

_"So, you wouldn't like it if we did this?" another shadow taunted, and stabbed her in the stomach._

_"Stop!" I yelled. I fell on my knees and clutched my head, trying to block out the two girls' screams as they surrounded me. "Stop hurting them. Please…" _

_The shadows revealed themselves to be clowns, and laughed at me sadistically. They started coming closer. All of them held knives. They raised their arms and—_

"AHH!" I yell, as I snap awake in a cold sweat, sitting bolt upright.

"Just a nightmare…" I murmur. I hear my mother's footsteps rapidly approaching my room as I repeat the phrase over and over. "Just a nightmare, just a nightmare…"

"Jack? Are you alright?" she frantically asks, sitting on my bed next to me.

I nod. "Just a nightmare…"

She hesitates. Most times she knows exactly if I need a hug, or if I just need my personal space. This isn't one of those times.

So instead, she just asks "Do you want to go to school today? You don't have to if you don't feel like you're going to last the whole day…" she trails off, but I finish the sentence in my head. '_Without having a mental breakdown.'_

"No, it's okay. I should be fine." '_Yeah. Emphasis on _should_'_

She bites her lip. "Well, okay. If you say so." She puts a hand on my shoulder."Jack, you know I'm here for you no matter what, right?" At that statement, I pulled her in for a hug. I don't have to be looking at her face to know that she's smiling.

"I love you, Jack,"

"Love you too, mom."

I had waken up about fifteen minutes before I normally get up to go to school, so I decided that there was no point in going back to sleep. A half an hour later, I'm sitting at the dining table eating Frosted Flakes. My mom's phone rings, belting out the beginning of _Soul Sister_. She walks over and picks it up.

"Hello?"

A few short murmurs are all I hear, but apparently it's good news because my mom's expression becomes excited.

"Oh my goodness, really?... uh huh… uh huh… ok, thank you so much!" She ends the call, her hazel eyes sparkling.

"What happened?" I ask curiously, pausing in the motion of moving my spoon to my mouth. She turns to me with a wide grin. "I won a free week long trip to Spain for a language course!" she says excitedly. My mom is a college language professor, and she teaches Spanish. I smile.

"That's great, mom!" I say, happy for her.

Her face falls. "But you can't go…" she says sadly.

I shrug. "It's no big deal. I can stay home alone." And it really isn't a big deal. I've stayed home alone plenty of times before, especially when my mom is late home because she's grading papers or something.

"But for a week…"

"Mom, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

She smiles. "Ok then." She glances down at her watch. "Oh my gosh, I'm late for work!" She comes over to me and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek (which annoys me to no end).

"Bye mom."

"Bye Jack."

* * *

By the time I get to school, I had almost completely forgotten about yesterday's note incident.

That is, until I got to my locker and another, light blue note falls out. **(A/N: You may wanna keep track of the color of these notes… Wink wink nudge nudge :P)**

_Your friends are concerned,_

_How sweet of them!_

_If you want them to stay alive,_

_Keep your lips shut then. _

_P.S. ACCEPT KIM'S APOLOGY._

I freeze. This is a definite threat. A sigh slips past my lips. I have no other choice but to obey the note, even if I had decided I was going to tell the gang about yesterday's note. No matter what, I will _not_ allow my friends to get hurt if I have a choice.

Speaking of the note from yesterday...

'_Kim has it'_ I think, strangely amused. I had already forgiven her yesterday, knowing that she has a tendency to act impulsively when angry. I understand that she may have been frustrated that I didn't tell her, so I just purposely left the note where she would see it.

_'Speak of the devil' _I think, just as Kim herself walks down the hallway towards me. She sighs.

"Look, Jack, I know—"

"I forgive you."

"—you're mad and all… wait, what?"

"I forgive you. I know you tend to act impulsively and say things you don't mean."

"Ok then… but you need to know that—"

"I already do."

"…wha?"

"I purposely left the note yesterday because you wanted to see it so bad."

"I'm not sure how to respond to that… thanks?"

"Let's just pretend the past 24 hours never happened."

"Sure!" she says gratefully, beaming as we start to walk down the hall to homeroom.

"So… where do you think Milton, Jerry, and Eddie are?"

"I'm not sure… I haven't seen them all day."

"Well, they have to show up in homeroom, right?"

"Yeah."

Little did we know, our friends are silently prowling along right behind us.

"They're so gonna hook up," they whisper in unison.

* * *

Three days later, it's Friday. These notes have been really freaking me out. I also find it weird how they're different colors, too.

There was Wednesday's, which was a pale green color.

_Spain is obviously _

_A beautiful country._

_If you drop a bomb on it though,_

_It will be terribly junky._

It signified that whoever wrote this is watching me, because I haven't told anyone that my mom is going to Spain.

Then there's Thursday's,

_Two more days,_

_Until you're no longer fine._

_Two more days,_

_Until you're MINE!_

Which was the yellow color of a sticky note. This one actually scared me a little, but of course I couldn't tell anybody. I've been standing in front of my locker for the past five minutes, terrified of the note that is awaiting me inside. A familiar feminine voice snaps me out of my little funk.

"Jack?"

I manage to restrain myself from kicking Kim into next week, but I know she realized how close she was to getting injured when her eyes widened at my sudden tense body posture.

"Sorry… what are you doing?"

"Thinking." It wasn't a total lie. Fearing what's in your locker is technically thinking.

"Have you even opened your locker yet?"

"… no. I suppose I should do that." I take a deep breath to calm myself down and slowly put the combination in for my locker. A light orange note falls out. I catch it in my fist and glance over at Kim. She's too busy on her phone to notice. I let out a silent sigh of relief. She would definitely ask questions. I shove the note in my pocket, deciding to read it at the end of the day.

* * *

On the glass of doors at the dojo, Rudy left a note saying we should just go on in. The gesture irritated me a little because of the innocence to it. No one else is there yet.

Right before I open my locker, I remember the note in my pocket. I take it out and open it with bated breath. Unlike the rest of the week, it's just a single sentence.

_Do you like to breath, Jack?_

I snap.

* * *

_Kim's POV_

Rudy, Jerry, Eddie, Milton, and I watch in shock as Jack attacks the six dummies surrounding him as if they were alive and trying to kill them. His movements are graceful, yet accurate and deadly; by the time he finishes one move, he's already punching or kicking the next dummy; I'm afraid he'll eventually destroy them. His white earbuds are blasting some song from his iPod into his ears. We've been wise enough not to mess with him. He's clearly angry.

I lean over to whisper into Rudy's ear. "Do you know what's got him this mad?"

He shakes his head. "I have no idea," he whispers back. "When I got here, he was already like this."

He puts on a thoughtful expression. "Jack rarely ever gets angry. When he does, there pretty much two categories to it; verbal anger, where he'll just calmly dish out some major burns to the person who got him mad and then get over it, and silent anger. Silent anger is the most dangerous, where he'll plot a way to get back at you. Based on what you guys told me, you probably saw a mixture of the two when he found out that Jerry took his necklace. But this…" He gestures to the explosive boy in front of us. "… this is a whole new level. Something must have really set him off."

The maturity our sensei just showed disappears when he puts on a whiny expression. "I'm afraid to go into my office!"

Since Rudy obviously wasn't going to do anything, I decide to take charge of the situation. I grab a bo staff and begin a venture into uncharted waters. Jerry grabs my arm. "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna poke him with this. We have to get him back to normal somehow."

"But he's… _level three angry_!" Eddie hisses fearfully, glancing at the boy in question.

I shrug in response.

"You were a brave soldier," Milton says, saluting. The other three do the same.

I roll my eyes and slowly turn back to Jack. But before I can even take one step, he ends his apparently relentless assault with a "Ha!" and a finishing pose, facing towards us. He blinks, seemingly noticing us for the first time.

"Hey, guys. How long have you been here?" he asks, taking out the earbuds and shoving them in his pocket. Despite the fact that he seems nonchalant, we can all tell that he's extremely tense.

"About half an hour," I reply, looking at my watch. I'm surprised too. We've been standing here for approximately thirty minutes just watching Jack attack the dummies.

"Woah… and you were just standing here watching me this whole time?"

"Pretty much."

"…Ok, that's kinda weird."

"No," Milton says, speaking up. "That's not kinda weird. What's _kinda weird _is that you have been angrily attacking six dummies for half an hour straight with out even giving yourself a break! How is that even physically possible?!"

"…"

Rudy sighs, speaking up. "Jack, what Milton is _trying _to say is that… we can tell you're angry. Like really _really _angry. I don't even know how you're managing to stay calm right now."

Jack bites his lip nervously as I drop the bo staff and take a step towards him.

"What's wrong, Jack?" I whisper, cupping his cheek. "Why won't you let us in?"

"I can't," he replies softly. "I don't want you guys to get hurt…"

I sigh, looking at him sadly. I want to help him, _we _want to help him. But we can't do that if he doesn't tell us what's wrong. A few silent moments go by. The tension is so thick that you could cut it with a butter knife.

"Ok, then, let's get started," Rudy says, trying to diffuse the ticking bomb of apprehension. Jack sighs, putting his earbuds back in and going back to his attack.

None of us speak for the rest of that afternoon.

* * *

_Jack's POV_

I know my friends just want to help, but I can't let them get hurt.

At closing time, Rudy taps my shoulder and ducks as my reflexes respond. He raises an eyebrow. The unasked question is full of meaning. I sigh for what may be the millionth time today, nodding.

He smirks and tosses his keys at me. "Try not to pass out this time, 'kay?" he jokes. But then his expression turns serious. "Jack, are you positive you don't wanna talk? Because I know that karate is like your own personal stress ball but… you've never done it this long before."

"I'm sure Rudy. Heck, I'm probably only gonna stay here for about ten more minutes," I say, with a smile to reassure him. "Oh, and would you please turn off the lights on your way out?"

He looks at me quizzically, wanting to question the request, but then just shrugs it off and does as I ask. He walks out of the dojo, and the room goes dark. After a quick call to my mom to tell her where I am, I turn back to the dummies.

I'm alone now.

Emilie Autumn's "One Foot in Front of the Other" softly sings to me. I take a deep breath, closing my eyes and placing my hand on the chest of one of the dummies. I banish all thoughts from my mind, letting a wave of peace wash over me. I open my eyes and get into a fighting stance. All the stress of the week has just been building, building, building, up until the point where I just needed to release it somehow. Karate is the best release, especially when I'm mad, and right now I'm furious.

Furious at my fear of clowns.

Furious at the sickos that created that fear.

Furious at Jerry for taking my necklace.

Furious at the jerk that's writing these notes.

And furious at myself for being weak enough to react to all these things.

My onslaught on the dummies begins.

After about ten minutes of non-stop attack, I pause. I'm suddenly yanked out of my little world as my ears tell me I'm not alone. I pull out my earbuds, peering into the darkness. I don't see anything except shadows, but just in case, I leave my earbuds off. I resume my attack and slowly slip back into my little bubble of seclusion.

Minutes later, I stop again. This time I _know_ I heard something. "Who's there?" I ask, hoping to get a response from anyone lurking in the shadows, but there's nothing. I start to go over to the light switch, meaning to flip it up to cast light into the room.

I didn't get the chance.

I'm suddenly tackled into the lockers by a dark shape before I can even walk one step. My head slams against the metal, causing me to get disoriented as I fall to the floor. It's the perfect opportunity for the figure to attack. As it turns out, there's more than one person attacking me. One picks me up, pinning my arms to my sides. The other stands behind me and pulls at my necklace—_hard._

I struggle furiously, my lungs burning at the sudden detachment from my air supply. I never did get a chance to get in a breath. But my captors are too strong. I soon find myself getting dizzy from loss of air.

_'My most prized possession is being used as a weapon to kill me.' _I think bitterly. _'Who could have known?'_

Finally, I just stop fighting. My body goes limp.

The black behind my eyelids turns red, signifying that someone has turned on the lights. It takes a while for the sluggish fog that is currently my brain to process it. _'Who turned on the lights?'_

It's not like it matters, though. A familiar voice calls my name as I slip into darkness.

* * *

**Kidnapping! DUN DUN DUN! I feel like I'm kinda going all over the place with this story though. **

**1. I feel like Jack, Kim, and Rudy are all a little OOC.**

**2. I can't get Eddie's personality right. **

**3. First Jack's necklace is stolen, then they find him unconscious in the dojo, then the notes start to appear, then he's ambushed at the dojo, then they go to a carnival only for his wrist to get broken, then he's at home pouting about it and he gets kidnapped, and it's just UGH.**

**But don't you worry! I will NOT abandon this story! I swear!**

**Also, for you Danny Phantom phans (DON'T tell me I spelt that wrong. If you are a true phan, you will understand), I have a poll on my profile that will help for a current work in progress. (I won't post it until it's completely written, but I can forsee a future Danny Phantom/Teen Titans x-over in your future. And a Kickin It/Danny Phantom X-over. And a My Babysitter's a Vampire/ Danny Phantom x-over. And a Pair of Kings/Kickin' It/Danny Phantom/Wizards of Waverly Place x-over. I have a lot of x-over ideas. *evil grin*)**

**Ta-ta for now!**

**-BP**


	6. Friday evening and Saturday

**Hey, you guys! I fixed what Jerry says on chapter two because Jack's threat was associated with elementary schools, so yeah. I once again suggest that you guys go read Kickin Taylor's ****_Saving Kim_****. It's an amazing story with what I call a "double-plot", where there's a whole 'nother plot just when you think the story is done. Enjoy this extra long chapter!**

* * *

_Rudy's POV_

I'm halfway to my house before I remember that I forgot _Twilight_ at the dojo. I turn around and start to drive back, sighing. Hopefully Joan will let me back into the mall. She does, saying "You must find out what happens to Bella!"

I think she liked the book.

I walk over to the dojo and open the unlocked door, flipping on the lights. "Hey, Jack, sorry I—" I start to say, before I freeze in shock just as two masked faces look up.

...

_OH. MY. GOD. _It takes a bit for my brain to wrap around the fact. _Jack… criminals… strangle… necklace…_

"Jack?"

I finally react when Jack goes limp. "GAAAAAAAAAAH!" I scream, running towards them. They drop Jack's body and run out, towards the locker rooms. They probably broke a window to get in.

I start to go after them, before the (very small) logical part of my brain reasons that helping Jack is my main priority right now. I dash over to him, kneeling by his side. "Jack…" I whisper, lifting him up so that he's leaning against my chest. I pick up his wrist with a trembling hand and wrap two fingers around it, searching for a pulse.

_Please be there, please be okay, please be alive…_

I almost die (not the best word to use right now) in relief when I feel his radial artery beating feebly but definitely against my fingers. I hold the unconscious boy to my chest, smiling as his reflexes try to defend him. This teenager means a lot to me; he's like the son I never had.

Gently moving so that Jack is using my lap as a pillow, I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial 911. I quickly answer all of the call taker's questions, and the police and paramedics are here within fifteen minutes. I call Jack's mom right after, and she comes to the dojo in under ten minutes (which kind of worried me because Jack's house is forty-five minutes from the mall).

After checking Jack over, a male paramedic assures Michelle and I that Jack will be fine; he just passed out from lack of air. The man advised Mrs. Anderson about the medicine that she may need to buy because her son's throat will be sore for the next couple of days. I give the security footage of what happened to the police. Thankfully, the video is clear because of the moonlight streaming in through the window. They promised to be on the lookout for the attackers, but they didn't have much to go on.

Michelle and I decide not to take Jack home until he wakes up. I take him to my office, gently laying him down on the couch. His mother lifts his head up and puts it on her lap, stroking his hair softly. She looks worriedly at the angry red line on his neck left by the black string of his necklace. To take her mind off of her son, I start bring up one of the times when Jack won one of the trophies for the dojo. She smiles, apparently recognizing my attempt to help her, before replying. We chat for about thirty minutes, before we hear Jack let out a small moan.

"Jack?" Mrs. Anderson asks softly, as his eyes open slowly. **(A/N: Feeling a bit of déjà vu, my good readers?)**

"… mom? What…" He replies, trailing off. His brown eyes widen as he appears to remember what happened. His hand moves to his neck. "I almost died…" he whispers. His mother gathers him up in her arms and hugs him to her chest. When she releases him, he glances over at me. "Rudy? Are you okay?"

"What?" is my oh so intelligent reply.

"You're crying."

I lift up a hand to my face. It comes back wet. I _am_ crying. But who wouldn't be right now? If I had come just a few minutes later…

Jack pats me on the shoulder.

"It's okay, Rudy. I was scared, too."

_?'s POV_

**_(I want you guys to figure it out)_**

"You did WHAT?!" I snarl at the two imbeciles that are supposed to be my henchmen.

"We—" Frank starts to say, before Kai hits him in the arm.

"It's was a rhetorical question, dip wad," the blonde says.

"I ask you, to just steal a necklace; a task so simple that even a _monkey _could do it. Instead, you end up trying to kill him?!" I hiss. Kai rolls his eyes, which he knows annoys me.

"Relax, old man," he says. My eye twitches, and he smirks. "We just figured that if we killed him, then you wouldn't have to worry about him anymore." I wonder how this arrogant teenager could possibly be related to Jack.

"Well then, it's a good thing that the bumbling fool of a sensei got there when he did because I don't want the boy dead. I want him in my dojo!" I reply, gritting my teeth.

"Ooh, you jelly?" There's that blasted smirk again.

I wish I could just wipe that stupid thing off of his face.

"But I thought jelly was something that you put on toast," Frank says, being the idiot he is. Kai hits him in the back of the head.

"Whatever. We'll just figure out something else," I say. I lean back in my chair. Frank's expression changes for a second, but then it goes blank again. He subtly glances up at me, probably hoping I didn't see it. But it's too late; I know what that face means.

He's got an idea.

"What do you think, Frank?" I say.

"It's n-nothing," he stutters. "J-just s-s-some stupid thing th-that I—"

"What _is_ it, Frank?" I demand.

He doesn't say anything, so I decide to prompt him a little.

"Might I remind you that your little sister is on the line here?" **(A/N: I didn't think of this until I saw the Kickin' It episode ****_Boo Gi Nights_**** again. Frank at some point in the episode says that he has a little sister that's going to dress up as a princess. So, I decided to use her…)**

He winces. I have him there. After Frank got beaten by Jack in the cafeteria, I kidnapped his sister so that he would do better in the dojo. I wouldn't dare actually harm the girl; I'm not that cruel. But the important thing is that Frank doesn't know that. He's also terrible at lying.

"I was just thinking that maybe we could kidnap him."

Kai crosses his arms, and I glare pointedly at Frank knowing that there's more to it. He sighs.

"… but he can fight us off no matter how many of us we send after him to attack. So, maybe we can do something that would affect his skills." I nod. This boy can have his smart moments.

"Like breaking his arm!" Kai says, catching on to what his (forced) partner is saying.

I turn back to the camera feeds that I'm getting from the Wasabi Warriors dojo.

"Leave me. I need to think." I hear the two boys' footsteps withdraw out of the room. After mulling over Frank's idea, I decide that it could be effective. I watch the screen, wondering when we could possibly injure him enough to affect his karate skills.

I watch as Jack walks out of Rudy's office. I switch to Rudy's desk cam.

"… maybe they can have a day off tomorrow," Jack's mother was saying. "You know they all deserve is, even without what happened to Jack."

"That'll be good. I'll take them to the Seaford Fun Park. Teenagers get in free tomorrow," Rudy replies, looking thoughtful. I grin sadistically.

Perfect.

I take out my phone, dialing a number.

"Hello?" he replies.

"I need a favor..."

* * *

_Jack's POV_

The next day, I walk into the dojo with a cloud of sadness and anger above me. Sadness because of the fact that someone wanted to kill me, since a normal robber wouldn't usually sneak into somewhere just to kill someone. And anger at _The Noter,_ as I've called the note writer in my head. Plus, I have a sore throat that's annoying me to no end.

I'm not mad at Jerry anymore, because even if he didn't steal my necklace, I still probably started receiving notes from _The Noter. _It's a good thing for Jerry, too, because the plotting part of my brain had figured out a way to scare him in the worst way possible.

But anyway, when I step through the doors of the dojo, I notice that no one is doing anything. No stretching, no sparring, no practices, nothing. Kim is one her phone, Rudy is just coming out of his office, Milton's reading, Eddie is eating a bag of chips, and Jerry is doing some weird little dance move. Rudy looks up at the sound of the door closing.

"Oh, good, Jack's here," he says. Everyone stops what they're doing and look at Rudy expectantly.

"Rudy? What's going on?" I ask, confused. I manage to keep from wincing as the pain in my throat reminds me of its presence.

"Ok, I wanted to wait until you were here before I told you guys this; You guys have all been working hard, and you did win the competition last week. So, I think you deserve a break." I don't miss the glance he sends my way. He probably thought this would take my mind off the stress of the week. I smile, appreciating the gesture. An hour later, we're at the Seaford Amusement Park.

"Yo, man, I love this place!" Jerry says, looking out the window and smiling. We all get out of Rudy's car.

"But wait, who's paying?" Milton suddenly asks.

"Me. Every single dime," Rudy replies proudly.

"It's Teens Get in Free day, isn't it?" Eddie asks. It's more of a statement than a question.

"Yup."

Rudy had parked a ways from the entrance gates, so we had to walk all the way there. **(A/N: If you want a better description of the distance they traveled, it's about one eighth of a mile (220 yards))**

On the way there, Rudy and the other guys chatted happily. Kim is strangely quiet.

"I heard that one guy rode the _Sasquatch_ so many times that his brain turns to mush! That is sick, man!" Jerry exclaims excitedly.

"Remind me not to ride it," Milton says nervously.

"I guess you can ride the baby version of it then," Eddie teases.

"Too bad the baby version is about the exact same size as a normal rollercoaster," Rudy says, and they all laugh except for Milton.

I walk up to Kim. She sighs; I don't need to ask what's wrong.

"You're not very good at hiding your emotions from me, Jack," she says quietly.

"I know," I respond softly, because it's the truth. I may have everyone else fooled, but Kim knows me like the back of her hand.

"Tell me what's wrong. Please. I wanna help you."

"I can't, Kim. You'll get hurt."

"You think I can't defend myself?"

"I _know_ you can defend yourself. But… you might die." I whisper the last part, meaning to keep it to myself, but I forgot that this girl has ears like a hawk.

"So, what you're saying is that you can't tell me whatever is wrong with you because it might kill me? What, is it gonna poison my ears or something?" She lets out a single, hollow laugh.

"No," I reply. "It's not like—"

"Where are you guys going?" Rudy asks, unintentionally interrupting me mid-sentence. Kim and I look up to see that we had walked right on past the gates to the park.

"Probably off to some secret place where they can 'talk' alone," Jerry snickers to Milton and Eddie. He runs into the park when he sees the glares we're sending his way. Kim growls lowly and goes after him. I follow her to keep her from killing Jerry. As I look around the park for the first time, I decide that this may be a little fun after all.

**(A/N: I couldn't figure out how to work in them getting their admission tickets, so just know that Rudy paid for his ticket and everyone else got theirs free.)** "Ok, here's the deal," Rudy says, stopping anyone before they could go further. Jerry glances at Kim anxiously and she cracks her knuckles in response. "Absolutely _everything _is free for teenagers today except for food, candy, and things from the gift shop. So, here's ten dollars for each of you, supplied by your parents. Go nuts." He hands us each a ten dollar bill. "Right now, it is currently…" He glances at his watch "… 1:09. You can decide to go your separate ways or stay in a group, I don't care. Just meet back here at three." Milton and Eddie go off together, while Jerry walks off quickly with Kim following. Rudy and I just go in separate directions by ourselves.

I aimlessly walk around the park for a while, marveling at all the bright colors and loud sounds and occasionally catching sight of one or more of the others. So far, I've won a gold, heart-shaped watch (to give to my mom), a guitar (I have a certificate that is to be redeemed at the front gate when I'm leaving), and a laptop computer (same as the guitar).

So, here I am, still walking aimlessly, when all of a sudden someone rushes past me and pushes me into the nearest booth in the process.

"Ah!" I cry out softly when I accidentally cut my hand on a nail sticking out of the wood. A small thread of scarlet appears, growing larger and larger as the blood flowed out of the wound. I freeze.

_'My life… the red… slowly oozing out of my hand… little by little… drip… drip… drip…'_

I shake my head, clearing my brain of the dark thoughts. I REFUSE to fall into depression again. Again, you might ask? Yes.

Again.

My dad died about two years ago, back when we still lived in Georgia. He was like my adult best friend. I tried to get over it, but I just couldn't. I soon found myself slowly falling into depression. About three months after he died, I started cutting. Back then, I thought it was my only escape; the only way I could feel even remotely happy. My friends (Brian and Kyla, who are twins, Tyler, Rachel, and Chris) had figured out that something was bothering me. They were always asking if I was okay.

I wasn't.

One day, Chris and Tyler came over to help with a science project that was due the next week. I was up in my bathroom, slowly slicing my wrists and upper arms. But at one point, my hand slipped and cut too deep, severing an artery in my arm. The blood came gushing out, and I remember feeling lightheaded and hearing my mother's voice telling my two friends that I was in my room before blacking out.

Chris had filled me in on what happened next about a month later. He knocked on the door. While waiting for my mom to open it, Tyler had chattered excitedly about what we could do for out project. Chris himself, though, was worrying about me. After all, he was my best friend at the time. We actually still keep in contact, talking the day away on Facebook **(A/N: You guys know that Facebook has a video chat now, right? Yay!) **like the old friends we are. He figured that something was up as soon as he grabbed my arm one day to confront me about something and I had flinched away, wincing. At the time, he was suspicious, but he had blamed it on my reflexes. His suspicions were sadly heightened when he noticed how I suddenly went from wearing short to long sleeve shirts. He knew that I had once said I hated long sleeve shirts, claiming that "I NEED to show off my sexy arm muscles!". He was going to talk to me about it.

My mother opened the door, greeting them with a smile and an offering of a batch of cookies. They had gladly accepted (if you knew how good my mom's cookies are, you would have, too). Tyler asks where I am through a mouthful of cookie.

That boy is so much like Rudy that's it's not even funny (actually, it kinda is).

My mother had replied that I was upstairs in my room. That's when they hear the huge _THUMP!_, created by me hitting the floor as I passed out.

"Jack?" my mother had called. But there was no response.

Tyler and Chris offered to go check on me, since they were going up to my room anyways. Tyler ran upstairs with his childish enthusiasm. Chris took his time. Tyler bounced around the room, singing "Jack, Jack, where are you, Jack?" over and over again. Chris notices the light that streamed out from under my bathroom door. Right then, he had told me, he got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Did you check the bathroom, oh so smart one?" he asks sarcastically. He knocked on the bathroom door.

"Jack?" he called. "You in there?"

(Of course) there wasn't a response.

"Jack?"

…

"Come on, man, this isn't funny."

…

"I'm gonna open the door in three seconds if you don't answer me."

…

"Three…"

…

"Two…"

…

"One! That's it, I'm coming in!" He shoved open the door and gasped at the sight of me lying in the small pool of blood that was coming from my wrist. And, that's how they found me.

I shake my head, coming back to the present and realizing that I had been lightly tracing the inside of my forearm.

The scar of the place where the razor went too deep. A constant reminder of my time of suffering. **(A/N: I'm not sure if there's actually an artery in your forearm. For this story's sake, there is.) **

To take my mind off of the aching memories, I try to think of something pleasant. I remember the rollercoaster Jerry was talking about earlier, the _Sasquatch. _I look up at the enormous contraption as it towers over the rest of the park, and I decide to ride it.

All I can say is that it was PURE FREAKING EPICNESS.

Minutes after I get off of the ride, I hobble over to a ring toss, leaning on the side of it to regain my balance. After recovering, I examine the prizes and see if there's anything of interest to me. Different colored giant fluffy unicorns, frog plushies, and a teddy bear; nothing that I need. I start to turn away until I see a young girl (who looks about five) that's standing two booths away and staring longingly at the yellow unicorn. The man that's with her is arguing with the man at the booth they're at. I look at the stuffed animal, then at her, then back at the toy again.

"Are you gonna try it or not?" the young woman in charge of the ring toss snaps. I nod, and she hands me three rings. I manage to get two of them around the neck of the bottle.

"Congratulations," she says, but can tell she doesn't mean it. "Pick any prize of your choice."

"That one," I reply. I point to the yellow unicorn. She takes it off of its shelf and hands it to me. I go over to the little girl, who is looking at me with wide eyes. I hold it out to her.

"Here you go."

She takes it slowly, as if one sudden move would break it. Then, a grin spreads wide across her face. She latches onto my leg, repeating "Thank you" over and over again. I smile and pat her back with my uninjured hand.

"You're welcome," I say, chuckling.

The man with her turns his head towards us. The little girl pulls away, still beaming at me and clutching her new toy. He squints at my face, as if he recognizes me but can't exactly figure out who I am. Then he does a double take and quickly hurries away with the girl's small hand in his. I stand there, puzzled. The young girl turns around and waves at me over the unicorn's fuzzy head. I smile and wave back.

What just happened? I know I made a little girl happy, but… hmm.

I take my phone out of my pocket to glance at the time on the screen. It reads _2:33._ About thirty minutes until I go and meet up with the others.

_'What to do now…'_

My stomach growls in response. So, I head over to the nearest café and buy myself some lunch for five dollars, and while I'm there I grab some napkins to tie around my hand until I can find a bathroom to wash away the blood at. Then I decide to spend the rest of my money at a gift shop close to the café. I walk around, not seeing anything of my appealing.

That is, until I saw a small, mysterious and dreary looking section of the store, and above this hung a sign that read _'Madame Vague's Collector Emporium'. _

Despite the foreboding appearance, I find myself drawn towards it. An old woman (whom I assume is Madame Vague and looks so much like my grandmother that it's freaking me out) sits at a counter in the corner. I look around. Everything here is kinda random.

"Do you need help finding something, dear?" she suddenly asks. I whip around, reflexes preparing me for a fight after five minutes of complete silence. "Oh, you turned around quite quickly! Do you happen to take part in any physical activity where you might have developed reflexes?"

"Uh, yes mam'. I'm a martial artist," I reply, slightly weirded out by her deduction from my reflexes.

"That's wonderful!" she says, clapping lightly.

_'O-kay'_ I think.

"Young man, would you be so kind in telling me your name?"

"…Jack."

"Jack. Lovely. Jack, would you please come here?"

I walk closer to her. It's only then that I realize she's blind; her blue eyes are blank, and they aren't focusing on me.

"Give me your hand, please."

I comply, somehow feeling strangely at ease in doing so. "Mmhmm…" she hums, taking off the makeshift bandage and brushing her fingers over the injury. I wince. She lets go and stands up. "I know the perfect things for you, Jack." She gets up and walks around me, going over to a big box. She opens it as I step closer to her. They're beads.

Hundreds and thousands of beads.

She reaches in and digs around for a while. Something tells me that she's able to tell them apart. She finally picks one out, but I can't see it since she holds it in her fist.

Then, she walks to the other side of the room towards a shelf full of stuffed animals. She lightly touches each one until she rests on a teddy-bear sized porcupine, a baby one. It's wearing a gi.

_'Heh' _I think. _'This kinda reminds me of Kim; all adorable and cute, but can defend itself and/or look threatening when necessary…' _

_'What the HECK am I thinking_?'

She picks it up and gives it to me, along with the bead she had picked out earlier. I examine the small orb. It's the exact same size as the flashdrive around my neck. It's hole is just big enough for the black thread to get through, too. It was a light green, but as soon as my fingers make contact with it, it slowly changes to black.

"This bead tells your mood," Madame Vague says. "and it's completely accurate. What color did it turn?"

"Black," I reply.

"You are troubled?"

I'm taken aback by the question, but I answer it anyway. "…yeah."

"Why?"

"Mainly stress."

"Don't let it get to you, Jack. You're a very nice boy."

I smile, even though she can't see it. "Thank you, mam'. Oh, let me pay for these—"

"You don't have to trouble yourself about it, dear."

"But—"

"But nothing. Consider it as a day off gift." For some reason, that statement bothered me. "Take this too," she adds, handing me a small bandage roll that I had not seen her pick up.

"…Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. Oh, and don't worry. Kim will love it." That one bothered me, too.

"Ok, then. Bye."

"Hopefully we'll meet again, Jack."

I take off my necklace, untie it, and slip the bead onto the thread. I spot a bathroom next to the shop and go into it. I sit the small plushy on the sink wash the dried and fresh blood off my hand and wince as it stings. Then, I dry my hands and fold a paper towel into a rectangle just big enough to cover the injury. I put it on it and (with difficulty, due to the fact that the paper towel kept falling off) wrap the bandage around my hand and the paper towel. It wasn't until that moment that I realized what bothered me so much about Madame Vague's last few sentences.

I didn't mention anything about our day off or about Kim to her.

I turn around and walk right back to that gift shop, determined to find some answers. But when I get there, Madame Vague's shop is all boarded up, as if it had been closed for some time now. I look at it, confused. I had only left a few minutes ago. I go up to the main desk.

"Excuse me, sir," I say to the man standing there. "But when does that little shop over there open again?"

He glances at where I'm pointing then looks back at me. "Son, Madame Vague's been dead for thirteen years; her shop's been closed for just as long."

It's only a strange but eerie coincidence that my grandma died thirteen years ago, too.

"But, that's impossible! I got this—" I point to the bead. "—this,—" I point to the porcupine. "—and this—" I point to the bandage. "— from _that_ shop!" I point the mini-shop, which is partially hidden by the large shelves that filled the main store. Seriously, I could be like a professional pointer or something.

The man shakes his head. "I remember when you came in here a few minutes ago. You went back there, did whatever, and came back with that stuff in your hands. I thought you were stealing at first, but then I saw that nothing you had was sold in this shop. So, I just let you go."

I walk out of the shop, confused. There's no way I could have imagined it. I felt her touched me, felt the pain when she brushed my injury. So then what happened? My thoughts are interrupted by my phone. It sings the beginning of Jesse McCartney's _Tell Her_.

Kim.

"Where are you? It's 3:00!"

I glance at the screen of my phone. "No it's not," I reply. "It's 2:52."

"Close enough!" she snaps. I smirk at her reaction. "Where are you?"

"Are the others there?" I ask.

"… no."

"So then why did you call me?"

"Because I'm standing here and I'm bored!"

I laugh. "I'm on my way."

I walk around, figuring that I'd see a booth that I recognize eventually. I finally catch sight of the giant entrance arch that we came through at first. When we were coming in, it said 'WELCOME TO THE SEAFORD FUN PARK' in big letters. Now, when I'm about to go out, it reads 'THANK YOU FOR VISITING! COME AGAIN'. I start to walk towards it, but then a nearby stand that reads "How High Can YOU Kick?" in bright green letters across the top catches my eye. After looking at the bell hanging above the small platform and mentally gauging how high up it is, I scoff.

Easy win.

As I walk up to it, I could have sworn that someone behind me whispers "Told you he'd fall for it." I turn around, but I don't see anyone. I go up to it, get ready, and kick. The bell rings with a loud ding. The man at the stand claps.

"Oh, ho ho! Congratulations, young man!" he shakes my hand vigorously. I frown. Haven't I seen him…?

He leads me to the side of his booth, saying, "Come in and claim your prize!"

I gotta bad feeling about this…

"Can't I just wait out here while you get it?"

"No, no, no, that will not do! I must give it to you inside!"

"Umm…" I mumble, while he opens the door and pushes me inside.

I stumble forward, almost falling. I realize that this man is the man from earlier; the one that took the little girl away. He locks the door, turning around with an evil smirk on his face. Two pairs of hands suddenly grab my arms above the elbows from behind. **(A/N: Did that sound weird?) **My reflexes are quick to respond, but not quick enough. They manage to restrain me. I turn around to see Frank and Kai as my captors.

"Urgh… what do you jerks want from me? If this is another attempt to get me to join the Black Dragons, I won't do it," I growl, ceasing movement as I realize that I'm not going anywhere soon. The man goes over and closes the window of the booth.

"That's the thing, my dear Jack," the man says. "We know you won't… willingly."

"And you are?" I ask him raising an eyebrow.

"Greg. Sensei Ty's brother."

"Wow," I say, unimpressed.

"Whatever. The point is that I have to disable you somehow."

"Disable, meaning?"

He takes a step towards me, slipping on a pair of gloves. "You'll see. Frank?"

Frank moves my left arm forward. I can't help but feel a little nervous. Greg starts to press some places on my wrist, and I wonder if they're pressure points. With each point he presses, pain starts to flare."What… are you doing?" I say, pausing when he hits a particularly sensitive point.

"And for the finale," he says, ignoring me. He takes my wrist and flips it up.

It breaks.

I scream as Frank and Kai drop me to the ground. "Have a nice day, Jack," Greg says, before unlocking the door and walking out. I hear a thump, which probably means they propped something up against the door to keep me from getting out. _'I have to get out of here.' _I think. I try the door. It's unlocked, but it's barred from the outside just as I suspected. I take out my phone.

* * *

_Kim's POV_

_'I wonder where Jack is,' _I think. I freeze when I hear a masculine scream.

Jack? Oh my god, please don't be Jack.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice three figures coming out of a nearby booth. Turning towards them, I watch as the man moves a large object in front of the door. Is he trying to keep someone from getting out?

They walk away. The blonde and the man start to laugh. The brunet just trails behind them, silent. They're too far away, so I can't make out their faces.

Just as I start to walk towards the booth to figure out and possibly free whoever they barred in there, my phone rings. It belts out the opening lines of _Distraction_ by KSM.

_'Jack'_ I think.

"—n't believe I actually get signal in this crappy place," he was saying. His voice is tight, like he's in extreme pain.

"Jack?" I ask, confused.

"Kim? Thank god, Kim; I need help." I hear the sound of slight movement, and he gasps in pain.

"Oh my goodness! The great Jack needs _my_ help? I feel honored!" I reply, internally worried. Jack only ever asks for help if he absolutely needs it.

"Kim, I'm serious!"

As he tells me what happened, I really wish he wasn't.

* * *

**(1) Feeling a bit of déjà vu, my good readers?**

**(2) I didn't think of this until I saw the Kickin' It episode ****_Boo Gi Nights_**** again. Frank at some point in the episode says that he has a little sister that's going to dress up as a princess. So, I decided to use her…**

**(3) If you want a better description of the distance they traveled, it's about one eighth of a mile (220 yards)**

**(4) You guys know that Facebook has a video chat now, right? Yay!**

**(5) I'm not sure if there's actually an artery in your forearm. For this story's sake, there is.**

**(6) Did that sound weird?**

**Oh no, Jack's in trouble! Well we kinda already know that, but still! I'm kinda dreading the ending of this story because I'm sure that it'll be completely crappy. **

**-.-**


	7. Sunday

**(5/6/13 edit: Ok. Somehow I screwed up chapters 5-7. In the process of fixing them, I misplaced [if that's the word to use] the author's notes at the beginning and end of this chapter. So, i have no idea what went here. Heh heh... sorry 'bout that.)**

* * *

_Kim's POV_

So, the aftermath of our day off pretty much went like this:

I called Rudy and the guys.

Together, we managed to push the large object (which turned out to be a HUGE rock, and made me wonder how the man had been able to move the rock there in the first place) out of the way and free Jack.

We took him to the hospital as he held his wrist close to his chest and brooded over the fact that he had let three people catch him off guard. I repeatedly tried (and failed) to convince him that it could have happened to anybody.

Jack refused to call the police, stating that "Revenge is a dish best served cold." I'm not sure what that had to do with calling the police, but we didn't.

We waited about an hour in the waiting room. Everyone except Jack had to hold in laughter when he silently pleaded for us to help him as an old man next to him talked and talked and talked and talked and TALKED about random things like his naggy wife, politics, and the B.O.R.E.D. (Banging Order of Really Exceptional Dudes. They apparently thought that the words 'banging' and 'dudes' were cool.), as if Jack actually gave a crap about what he was saying.

The doctor bought Jack's simple explanation of how he got the injury ("I was chasing one of my friends at the amusement park when I tripped over a rock and landed wrong when I fell onto the ground."). After an x-ray, she confirmed that Jack's wrist was indeed broken. She took Jack into a room, and he later came back out with a light blue cast. **(A/N: Do they make them that color? I've only ever seen green, pink, and white ones.)** She told Jack to lay off karate for a while.

He, of course, got upset over that. No one else but me was able to really tell, though. He cleverly masked his real emotions behind a small disheartened smile and one of his normal, cheeky remarks. But I could see through it. I've known Jack for about a year now. Over the course of that year, I was the one that hung around him the most. So, I learned that karate is like Jack's other half. He _needs_ karate. If he's put in a situation where something's getting in the way of him and karate, he _will_ do everything he has to get past that obstacle. He proved that when he didn't let his injured leg stop him from getting that belt in the first competition he was in for the Wasabi Warriors. But being told he couldn't do it for this long of an amount of time, seven freaking weeks…

…hopefully he won't go nuts.

As I sit on the couch in my living room and turn on the TV to the evening news, I wonder what my best friend is doing right now.

_Jack's POV_

"Are you sure? I book a flight right now if you need me to—"

"Mom. I'm _fine_. I can deal with a broken wrist." For the past half hour, I had been trying to convince my mother that she didn't need to come back home from Spain just because I broke my wrist.

"Mmmm… okay. Love you."

"Love you too."

"Bye."

"Bye."

What to do now…

…

This kinda sucks.

…

This _really _sucks. I'm sitting here, with nothing to do, and I have a broken wrist to top it off. It's too late to go to a friend's house, leaving me here drowning in boredom. _'Maybe there's something good on TV'_ I think. I unconsciously move my injured hand to where the remote is lying, attempting to pick it up. I end up pushing it off the couch instead. I growl in frustration.

Dealing with this injury is gonna be harder than I thought.

Grandpa had… _kinda_ trained me for if this sort of thing were to happen. Getting a cast means that there is a little more weight than you're normally used to on that limb. It messes up your balance. He put me through all sorts of exercises that helped me restore my balance if this were to happen. Which it did.

So yeah. I can still do karate perfectly fine. It's the normal things like picking up a remote that he didn't prepare me for, which I actually find kind of ironic.

_'I bet you're in heaven laughing at my expense right now, grandpa' _I think, looking upwards. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that I faintly heard his old laughter bouncing off the walls.

I give up on watching TV as I remember my new laptop that I won, sitting in its box on the floor next to the front door. The guitar is on the floor next to it. Rudy had gone and redeemed them for me after he dropped me off at home. I go over and bring the two items to the couch. First, I get out the guitar. The body is a deep, almost dark blue color, and fades into a ceruleanish color by the time it gets to the soundboard. The pickguard is a blue so dark it's practically black, and it has a design that makes it look like rippling water. **(A/N: I actually had to look up "parts of an acoustic guitar" to be able to make this description. For those of you that aren't guitar-savvy like some people are, there's a link under the basic info about me on my profile. Scroll down the web page (when you click on the link) and you should see two diagrams of a guitar. It's the top one (acoustic) you wanna look at; you just have to imagine the colors.) **It looks exactly like my old guitar.

The one that I played with my dad before he got drafted.

I remember the days clearly. My dad had a brown, acoustic guitar; the most common one you're gonna see out there. He named it Amber, after a golden retriever dog he had when he was younger. Almost every night, my mom, my dad, and I would go outside into the backyard and watch the sunset, and most times dad would bring his guitar outside and play something. We never sang, just listened to the guitar and watched the beautiful colors play themselves out. On my tenth birthday, my dad got me my own guitar. Over the course of six months, he taught me how to play. After that, we would always bring our guitars out together. When he died, mom and I tried continue the tradition. But the number of missed days between one time we went out and the next just grew and grew until we eventually just stopped doing it all together. When we moved here, to Seaford, I left my guitar with Chris.

Amber currently lives in a secret compartment in my closet, safe in sound in an air-tight glass case.

I hold the guitar, the hours of practice time that I spent with my dad finally coming back to me. I reach over and get the light blue pick out of the guitar's box. I search my mind and sift through the different songs that I have learned, until I finally decided on a familiar one. After a moment's hesitation, I start to play. The melody of _Lean on Me_ by Bill Withers flows out from the instrument. A memory surfaces, and it suddenly feels like my dad is right there next to me, adding the occasional strum.

I finish the song. I sit there in silence for a few moments, before I suddenly hear a sound coming from the kitchen. It sounded like someone was pulling back a chair. My mind flashes back two about two weeks about, to that dark night in the dojo…

I'm not taking any chances.

I quietly tiptoe over to the metal bo staff that Rudy gave me as an apology for taking the one that I got from the Black Dragons; I keep it behind the front door. I softly step over to the entryway of the kitchen. I stop just behind the wall and count off to myself. _'Three… two… one!'_ I whip around, poised to strike anything that moves with my bo staff.

A blonde head looks up as my mouth drops open in shock at the sight before me.

Kai…

Sitting at the kitchen table…

EATING. A FREAKING. SANDWICH.

It's not that I'm surprised that he's doing something normal. After all, humans have to eat. It's really the fact that he broke into a house just to do something that he could have done at his own house. I can hardly even process it.

"Oh, hey Jack," he says nonchalantly. Internally, I'm a bit annoyed that he's so cool about this.

"…"

"By the way, that little number you did on your guitar? Awesome."

"… you BROKE INTO my HOUSE to make A FREAKING SANDWICH?!"

"Oh, yeah. About that." He points at the sandwich. "Where does your mom buy this cheese? It tastes _amazing._"

I swear my eye just twitched.

"ANYway," he says, finishing the sandwich and standing up. "We have business to do."

"'Business'?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup." He smirks, and I suddenly hear a rustling behind me, and my reflexes react just in time to duck away from the baseball bat that was aimed at my head. I roll out of the kitchen and into the living room and get into a defensive stance, brandishing the bo staff. Kai advances towards me, but Frank hesitates. After a moments hesitation, he silently sighs and mouths a '_Sorry' _in my direction. I puzzle over it; could it be that he didn't want to do this?

My cocky side brushes away the confusion as I smirk, making the universal 'bring it on' gesture. Ten minutes later, Frank and Kai are down and out for the count, but I'm not sure how long they'll stay that way.

I run over to the home phone, forgetting that my cell is in my pocket. As much as I don't want to get the police involved, and as much as I know that the Black Dragons and Kai hate me, attacking me at my own house and breaking my wrist has just gone too far.

I dial 911, biting my lip as I hear one of them groan.

* * *

_No POV_

**(A/N: Don't blame me if any of this police info is wrong, cause I have no idea if there are any subcategories of policemen or what kinds go out into the field and whatnot, so… yeah)**

Deputy Neal Scott sighs as he plops down into a chair. He was sooo tired after a long car chase and an even longer foot pursuit. He puts on a tired smile; at least it's the end of the day.

Or so he thought.

But then the phone rings. He sighs. Another emergency. Hopefully it's minor.

"Seaford Police Department, how may I help you?"

"Uh, there's these two guys that broke into my house and tried to attack me. Well, they did attack me, but I know karate so I managed to take them down."

Neal smiles, thinking that this will just be an easy pickup. He's also glad about how calm the young man is being, despite the fact that he's panting slightly; probably from the fight with the two guys. "Ok, do you know these two guys?"

"Yeah. Frank Jones and Kai Masterson **(A/N: I made Kai Jack's maternal cousin, so they won't have the same last name.)**"

"Ok, thank you for staying calm. Now I'm gonna need you to answer some questions for me, alright?" The policeman wasn't sure if it was just his ears, but he could have sworn he heard a groan in the background.

"Sure." Neal also couldn't help but notice a small hint of panic and nervousness bloom in the boy's voice.

"What is your name?"

"Jack Anderson."

"Was there anyone with you at the time of the attack?"

"No. My mom is in Spain and my dad… he's dead." The officer felt a small pang of pity for the boy, having lost his own father at age five.

"Ok, where is your location?"

"454 HillrOMMM!" Neal unconsciously yanks the phone away from his ear as Jack's calm-slightly-panicked tone suddenly turns completely panicked and muffled.

"Thought you could get rid of us that easily, huh?" the policeman hears a sinister voice say in the background of the phone. He also hears Jack making more muffled sounds, and a series of thumps.

The sounds of a struggle.

"Jack, stop struggling. You're just making it worse for yourself!" another male voice pleads.

"OW! You freaking bit me!" the dark voice exclaims.

"HILLROSE AVENUE!" Jack's voice yells. "WE'RE AT 454 HILLROSE AVE—"

There's a loud thump, and then silence.

"Bye-bye, ," the dark voice says. The call ends.

Neal stares at the phone for a few seconds, before pressing the button of the radio **(A/N: Is that what it is? IDK) **on his shoulder.

"Units 586 and 912, we have a potential kidnapping on 454 Hillrose Avenue. I repeat, units 586 and 912, we have a potential kidnapping on 454 Hillrose Avenue."


	8. Most of Monday

**Hello, people! I got a review stating that someone found the Author's notes in the middle of the story very distracting, and I guess they are when I think about it. So, I'm doing footnotes instead! **

**Disclaimer: **I'm listening to _We Are Never Getting Back Together_ right now, so: I, am never, ever, gonna own Kickin' It. I-eee, am never, ever, ever, gonna own Kickin' It. You go talk to producers, talk to actors, talk to me. But I-eee, am never, ever, gonna own Kickin' It.

**Yay! Missing Him continues, NOW!**

* * *

_Kim's POV_

_'Hmm' _I think, as I walk to the dojo from school. _'Jack never called back last night'_. I had called him four times after 9:00 check on him, but he never answered. He didn't come to school today either. As much as he hates the place, he still goes anyway.

I get to the dojo first to see Rudy pacing around with his hands behind his back and a worried expression on his face.

"Rudy? What's wrong?" I ask him. He looks up at me.

"I told Jack to call me last night, before he went to bed. He didn't."

"So? He probably forgot."

"I don't know. I gotta bad feeling…"

Milton, Jerry, and Eddie walk in at that moment. Rudy looks at them for a second, then goes into his office and comes back out with his keys.

"Come on guys," he says.

"Where are we going?" Milton asks.

"Jack's house."

Forty five minutes later, we've arrived at our destination…

…only to find it swarming with police.

"Ack! It's the popo! Turn back!" Jerry jokes. He apologizes when everyone in the car glares at him. We get out of the car. Rudy goes up to a police man that comes out of Jack's house.

"Excuse me, officer. What's going on here?" The man stops and looks at us.

"There was a kidnapping here last night." We gasp, and the officer raises an eyebrow. "Do you know Jack Anderson?"

"Yes, sir. I'm his sensei and these are his friends," Rudy says, managing to keep a straight face.

"Hmm… come inside." He leads us to the living room, where four men are gathered around the dining table. I look around; Jack's comfortable and cozy living room has been turned into a crime scene.

My gaze lingers on a metal baseball bat with blood on the end that has a little card next to it, showing that it's evidence.

One of the men looks up at us as we walk in. "Who are they, Jones?" he asks, addressing the policeman that led us in here.

"They know the victim."

* * *

"May we ask you all some questions?" A man named Neal Scott (so says his badge) asks us, as we all sit down in the waiting room of the police station. **(1)** We all nod.

"Ok. Follow me, please." He takes us to a room. I look around. One of the walls has a big glass rectangle in the middle of it, and I can see people doing stuff on the other side. _'Observation-type-room thing. Cool.' _I think. The room that we walked into contains only a table, a big thing on the table, and six chairs (five on one long side, one on the other). He sits down one side, and we sit down on the other.

"This call was recorded at approximately 7:12pm yesterday. I want you guys to identify the two voices that you hear in the background; you'll know who I'm talking about when it gets there." We nod, and he plays the recording.

_"Seaford Police Department, how may I help you?" _the first voice says. I recognize it as Officer Scott's voice. I look up at him, silently asking if it was indeed him who answered the call. He nods.

_"Uh, there's these two guys that broke into my house and tried to attack me. Well, they did attack me, but I know karate so I managed to take them down." _I can't help but smile at the slight hint of pride in Jack's voice.

_"Ok, do you know these two guys?"_

_"Yeah. Frank Jones and Kai Masterson_." I growl at the mention of their names. The policeman looks at me quizzically.

_"Ok, thank you for staying calm. Now I'm gonna need you to answer some questions for me, alright?"_

_"Sure."_ I notice a small hint of panic and nervousness appears in Jack's voice. What the heck?

_"What is your name?"_

_"Jack Anderson."_

_"Was there anyone with you at the time of the attack?"_

_"No. My mom is in Spain and my dad… he's dead."_

_"Ok, where is your location?"_

_"454 HillrOMMM!"_ We all (except for the officer) simultaneously gasp.

_"Thought you could get rid of us that easily, huh?"_

"That's Kai," I say darkly. The rest of the gang nervously fidgets as they detect the hatred in my voice.

_"Jack, stop struggling. You're just making it worse for yourself!"_

"Frank?" Milton says, confusion evident in his voice. "Why does he sound sad?"

_"OW! You freaking bit me!"_

_"HILLROSE AVENUE! WE'RE AT 454 HILLROSE AVE—" _

There's a loud thump, and then silence.

_"Bye-bye, Mr. Policeman,"_

We all sit there for a minute, processing what we just heard. Anger bubbles up inside me until—

"I'M GONNA MURDER THEM!" I scream, standing up abruptly.

Rudy sighs. "Kim, calm down—"

"Calm down? _Calm DOWN?!_ Those big-headed karate wannabies kidnapped my best friend! I am not going to let them get away with this!" I run out of the room, ignoring my friends as they called after me. I past surprised men and women and out of the station, my will crumbling until I got to the curb and plopped down on it. The tears are already streaming down my face. I bring my legs close to me and wrap my arms around them as I sobbed, rocking slightly. Minutes later, I hear footsteps coming up behind me. Rudy sits down next to me.

"Crying and getting angry isn't going to help him, Kim," he says softly.

"I k-know," I sob, hiccupping slightly as Rudy rubs my back in small circles. "I just— I just—"

"Didn't know how to react?"

I nod mutely.

"Well, Kim, here's what we _can_ do to help Jack. We can cooperate with the police. We can not freak out like you just did. And we can make sure to keep an eye out for Frank and Kai." I nod again, feeling a little better. He smiles and stands up.

"Come on. Let's go inside."

* * *

_Jack's POV_

The first thing I'm aware of when I wake up is a splitting headache. I groan softly, wishing it would go away. The hair on the back of my head near my left ear feels a little matted and crusty, making wonder if the metal baseball bat that Kai hit me with made me bleed.

I hear movement. I open my eyes to see a little girl's face in front of mine. My reflexes react, jerking my arm forward to hit the young child.

But I can't.

I frown, looking behind me to where my wrists are. They're tied together behind my back. My ankles are also bound together as well. I turn back to the little girl, who is beaming brightly in the almost-darkness.

"Hi! My name is Hannah!" she exclaims with childish enthusiasm. "What's yours?"

"Jack." There's no harm in telling her. I might as well, since we're stuck here together.

"Thank you for getting Banana for me, Jack!"

"…Banana?" I ask, getting increasingly amused by the situation despite the fact that I'm tied up. She nods, holding up a familiar yellow stuffed animal. I smile; this is the little girl that I won the unicorn for on Saturday.

"Well, then, you're welcome." I hesitate a second, before asking, "Hannah, do you know why I'm tied up?"

She nods. "Big Brother's meanie karate teacher did it. He said that you'll cause trouble if he doesn't." Seconds later, she wrinkles her nose, saying "I don't like him."

I ponder over her words. Karate teacher. That's obviously Ty.

But 'Big Brother'…

Hmm…

…

Something clicks in my head, and I think back to last year on Halloween.

_"Maybe you should take your little sister trick-or-treating."_

_"Maybe I will. She's gonna be a princess this year, and she's gonna be adorable."_ **(2)**

Frank is Hannah's big brother.

Hannah is Frank's little sister.

I remember a few days after my first day at Seaford High. I was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels. I briefly pause on a news story that stated "—nah Jones, age six, disappeared this morning." I just flipped to the next channel, forgetting the report within two seconds.

I feel incredibly stupid. It's quite simple, actually. Frank was (before Kim left) Ty's second best karate student. When he and his cronies got beat _badly_ by me and Kim left, Ty started plotting something that would make his new top student do better in the dojo; kidnap his sister. Frank obviously wanted to leave by then, but couldn't because of the safety of his sister being held over his head. Ty eventually realized that Frank couldn't better get any better. He started trying to convince me to join his dojo. I refused every time. He decided that Frank was still useful then, and got the poor guy to start helping him in Ty's plan to kidnap me. That's why Frank looked reluctant when he gave my hand to Greg at the carnival, and also why he mouthed a _'Sorry'_ in my direction back at my house yesterday.

…

What? I can be smart, too.

When I come out of my major thinking session, Hannah is staring at my face, smiling. Her smiles are contagious, I swear it, because I end up smiling right back at her. "What?"

She giggles. "You look serious."

Before I can say anything back, a part of the wall directly across from us slides upward. You know, like in a sci-fi movie. Ty and Frank walk in. Hannah whimpers, burrowing herself into my chest. I marvel at her trust in me.

After a moment of exchanging gazes (me glaring and him contemplating), Ty says, "Frank, get your sister out of here." Frank sighs and complies, coming over and lifting his sister off of me with ease. "NO!" she says, pounding on his back. "PUT ME DOWN BIG BROTHER! MEANIE TEACHER'S GONNA HURT HIM! LET ME GO!" She carries on screaming and struggling as Frank walks out of the room. The door closes behind him.

Ty walks forward. "You know it didn't have to be like this, Jack." I look away from him, glaring at the floor so I don't do anything that I'll probably regret. He bends down and puts a cold finger under my chin, forcing it up. I retaliate by spitting in his eye. He curses and steps away from me, wiping the substance from his face. He looks up at me with an evil look on his face. I glare right back at him. He comes forward and kicks me in the stomach as hard as he can. I cough violently as he growls, "You WILL show me respect."

I slowly turn my head back up at him. "I'll show you my respect when you earn it. Heck, probably not even then." He snarls, kicking me again, but then right after he smiles.

Mood swing, much?

"Why did you bring me here?" I ask, still breathing heavily.

"Oh, it's quite simple actually. Force you to join my dojo, revenge on Kim, a 'prompt' for your mother—"

"My MOM?!"

"Yes." He bends down to where his face is directly in front of mine. "Your mother." He smirks at my confused and shocked expression, and straightens again. "She didn't tell you, did she? Then again, you were really young back then."

I don't even know how to respond to this. Since when does Ty know my mom?

"It all began 12 years ago, when you were two. Michelle, Samuel, you and your sister were a happy family. You all moved in to a house not very far from mine. It took you all a mere few days to get settled. Your mother and I met by chance; we accidentally bumped into each other at Starbucks."

I listen apprehensively, wondering where he is going with this.

"I fell in love with her as soon as I saw her."

I blanched. _'Oh. That's where he was going with that.'_

Ty's expression turns bitter. "Time after time after that, I encountered her at that exact same time. I was convinced she kept coming back because she liked me. Eventually, I asked for her hand in marriage. But she refused, being loyal to your father. I was outraged—"

"So, let me get this straight," I butt in. "You meet a woman—who, by the way, you hardly even know— and you fall for her. Knowing she's married, you still go ahead and ask for her to marry you? What, did you expect her to leave her husband for a man she hardly even knows?"

"YES!"

"And you get mad over it… you're an idiot, you know that?"

"ARGH! A few months after that, there was an incident, and you all moved to Georgia. I never saw you again— until a year ago. I was delighted to find out that your father was out of the way— Oh, get over it, people die all the time. Anyway, you asked me why I had you brought here; to force you to join my dojo, for revenge on Kim and your mother, and company for your sister." He raises an eyebrow and smirks evilly at me, as if waiting for something.

"Sister? My sister disappeared… eleven years… ago…" My breath catches in my throat.

The 'incident' is my sister's disappearance.

My sister's disappearance is actually a kidnapping, courtesy of Ty.

He kidnapped my sister to get back at mom.

We move, and years later we come back.

When we come back and he found out dad was dead, he tried to get with mom again.

Mom refuses. (I always used to remember a certain number calling our house or her phone and her telling me to ignore it.)

When she refuses, he kidnaps me to force mom to accept him.

But the main thing is, he kidnapped my sister.

He _kidnapped_ my _sister._

"You…" I whisper. The fuse inside me lights, and it's very short. "YOU'RE THE ONE THAT TOOK HER!"

"Temper, temper, Jack." I absolutely despise that smug look on his face. "If you wanted to say hello, you could have just said so. Kiara, come and greet your brother."

The door slides open, and in walks my long lost twin sister.

* * *

**(1) ****I once again tell you that I know ****nothing ****about policemen and police business and police interrogations and police stations and what not, so please correct me if I'm wrong.**

**(2) ****Quote from the episode, ****_Boo Gi Nights._**

**Until next week, my good readers. I'd like to once again thank all those who reviewed. Keep 'em comin.**


	9. Monday afternoon and Tuesday

**WAAAAAA! MY WHOLE FANFICTION FOLDER GOT DELETED! All my Kickin' It oneshots that I was planning to post and my other unposted fanfiction stories got deleted. I even had a Veteran's Day tribute that I was gonna post last Sunday! Chapter 9 was halfway done, and I had to type it all over again. (That's why this is a late update)(I type them on Word Documents before I post them.) I was seriously crying when I figured out that the whole file was really and truly gone. But since about three-fourths of you care nothing about my personal life, I'm not gonna bore you with it. Don't worry, just leave me here to drown in my misery. *sob***

**Disclaimer:** **Kim: **OK, BP is a little depressed right now *looks over at the author that is sobbing in the corner while clutching laptop* so I'm just gonna go ahead and say that she does NOT own me. Let's see what happens to Jack. _Please don't die..._

**Jack:** Aww, you love me that much?

**Kim: **I don't have a crush on you!

**Random people that just appeared out of nowhere: **Mmmmhmm.

**Milton: **Anyway, BP wanted me to tell you guys that she made some minor changes to previous chapters, like spelling errors, Jack's threat in chapter one, adding a sentence here or there, nothing big. Oh, and she changed Jack's twin's name to Kiara instead of Justine. AND she also wants me to inform the author _ADayWithoutLaughterIsADayWas ted _that she forgot to reply to your review about Jack's last name a few chapters ago. She is now aware of the fact that Jack's last names is Brewer, because she didn't know that until you told her, but she doesn't want to change it because readers may get confused. Okay, that's it. Carry on.

* * *

_Jack's POV_

My anger at Ty (almost) fades away as I make eye contact with the sister that I hadn't seen for more than a decade. "Kiara…"

"You forgot about me, Jackrabbit," she whispers, her eyes glistening. I feel the old spark of annoyance that always flared within me when she called me that, despite the situation.

"Forgot? How could I possibly have forgotten you?!" I exclaim. Off to the side, I see Ty smirk and turn around. The same portion of the wall slides open again and he walks out of the room. The door closes.

"Well, it's not like you ever did anything to help look for me!" she yells, all traces of tears disappearing.

"What could I possibly have done! We were only two, Kiara," I reply, trying to keep my voice under control.

"Maybe you could have gotten it through tiny little two year old brain that your sister was in trouble!"

Where is she getting all this? Then I figure it out— Ty. After all, eleven years is plenty of time to convince a growing two year old that her family hates her.

"Ty told you all this, didn't he?" I ask quietly.

"Don't you dare bring him into this! He's been more of a loving parent than _Mom _and _Dad_ ever were!" she snarls, saying 'Mom' and 'Dad' as if they were bugs that disgusted her. But something tells me…

"You're talking as if you don't know that one of them isn't alive anymore."

"What?" Her menacing expression falters.

"Dad is dead. He was murdered."

"I… I don't care! He deserved it for not caring about his child!" she says. She doesn't sound so sure.

"You don't mean that. You know that we all missed you— _a lot._ Sometimes, I hear Mom crying in the middle of the night. I mean, think about it. You disappear, and years later, dad dies. I'm the only one she has left. Think about how she must feel right now." In truth, I've actually been worrying about Mom's mental stability ever since I woke up here. I really am the only one she has left. She her only sibling lives in China, and we don't really keep in touch with the relatives on Dad's side.

"I miss her…" she whispers.

"I do, too."

"…no. NO!" Her sad expression suddenly becomes enraged. "Stop trying to mess with my head! I will never go back to that monster that you call a mother! Mothers are supposed to be loving and caring! They're not supposed to move away and forget their children when they disappear!" I almost wanna cry. I was so close to getting my sister back.

"That's not how—"

"SHUT UP!" She kicks me in the side, and I cry out. She kneels down in front of my pain-filled face. "Ty broke me and rebuilt me up again, showing me the cruel ways of this world. The same _will_ happen to you." She walks out of the room. The light somehow switches off, leaving me in complete darkness. I sigh, wincing at the pain in my side and stomach. I lean against the wall.

Am I gonna die here? Will I ever see my mom and my friends again? Wait, Kim is more than a friend. I smile as I think about her. Her strong spirit, her laughter, her everything.

I'm determined to get through this, even if it is just to see her smiling face just one more time.

* * *

_Kim's POV_

Jack.

He's the only thing that's been on my mind the whole day, and the guys have noticed. I wonder how they could possibly think they were being subtle with all the worried glances they sent my way today. But I can't blame them. They were just looking after me. Jack's kidnapping hit me really hard, and they know that. Jack isn't the only one that didn't show up at school today; Frank and Kai were absent, too.

I plop down onto the light green sheets of my bed. Knowing that Jack isn't just a call away anymore is eating me inside. It hurts.

So bad.

I sigh, laying on my back. Jack has always been there; a buddy during lunch, a tranquilizer for me after a run-in with Donna Tobin, a friend that's there when I'm down. He's a lot of things to me. I tell myself that the police will find him.

_'But what if they don't?'_ A small voice inside me asks.

_'Then the guys and I will.' _I reply to reassure myself.

_'How you do know that?'_

_'Milton is smart. Jerry has a lot of… guys. Eddie is creative. I'm manipulative. Together we'll find Jack, even if the police can't.'_

_'Why are you so positive? How are you so sure that you guys can do this? What if Jack dies?'_

_'Jack will NOT die because I LOVE HIM!' _I'm surprised at myself. I love Jack?

…

Yes. I do. And I can't believe it took him getting kidnapped for me to realize that. A new-found determination stirs within me. I grab my phone off my nightstand. Scrolling down my contact list (quickly averting my eyes as I pass the 'J's), I find the name I'm looking for.

"Kim? What's wrong?" Milton's voice asks.

"Call the guys and get over here," I order.

"Why—" I hang up, cutting him off mid-sentence. I sit in my living room and wait. As I do so, part of Cher Lloyd's _Oath_ pop into my head.

_Wherever you go, just always remember_

_That you got a home, for now and forever_

_And if you get low, just call me whenever_

_This is my oath to you_

_I know I drive you crazy, hmm… sometimes_

_I know I call you lazy, and that's most times_

_But you complete me, and that's no lie_

_You're my tuxedo, and I'm your bow tie_

_We walk in the car sing sing singing our song_

_Walk in the building, tear it down like we're King Kong_

_And in my eyes you can do-do no wrong_

_You got a best friend? Sing, sing along_

I smile at how the song kind of fits Jack and I, but not quite. The doorbell rings, and I go and open the door for the guys. "Kim, what's wrong?" Milton asks as soon as he gets inside. We all walk to the living room.

"We're going to find Jack," I reply simply, sitting down on a couch.

Milton sighs. "Kim, the police are already—"

"WE are going to find Jack," I repeat. He holds his hands up in surrender.

There's a few moments silence, before Eddie speaks up. "So… what do we do?"

"Yo man, if only the security cams in Jack's house could help us," Jerry says. We stare at him. "What?" he asks defensively.

"Since WHEN are there security cams at Jack's house?" I growl quietly.

"I dunno, since his mom decided it would be a good idea to install them?" I take a deep breath to keep myself from attacking him.

"Well, then, let's go over there!" Eddie says. "Maybe Milton can hack into the footage!"

* * *

_Kim's POV_

"The files must be on Mrs. A's computer," Jerry says as we walk inside. I used the key that Jack's mom gave me in case of an emergency. This _is_ an emergency after all. I lead the guys to Mrs. Anderson's room.

"There's her computer," I say, gesturing to it. Milton goes over to it and sits down in the computer chair. He turns the computer on. After a few seconds, it shows a log-in screen. Milton clicks 'password hint'.

_'__Sam __y Kiara,__siempre en nuestros__corazones'_

"I think it's Spanish," Milton says. "It makes sense since she's a Spanish professor. But what does it mean?"

"Lemme see it," Jerry says. Milton moves out of the way. Jerry his expression softens and he types in something really fast. "We're in."

"What does it mean?" Eddie asks curiously. Jerry takes a deep breath, before saying

"Sam and Kiara, forever in our hearts."

"… Sam is Jack's dad," I say quietly, after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah, but… who's Kiara?" Milton asks.

No one can answer.

After another few moments of silence, Milton turns back to the computer. He quickly finds the file for the security feeds of the cameras and locates the one that we're looking for. Some more clicks later, and we're viewing a black and white version of the Anderson living room. It shows Jack on the couch holding the guitar that Rudy redeemed for him at the carnival.

I wonder if he knows how to play.

Jack's head suddenly snaps up; he appears to have heard something. He gently puts the guitar down and tiptoes over to the metal bo staff that he keeps behind the front door. Then, he tiptoes off-screen. Minutes later, he rolls back on-screen, this time followed by Frank and Kai.

I growl under my breath. The guys can sense the hatred rolling off of me in waves, and they shift uneasily.

Jack gets into a defensive stance and smirks, making the universal 'bring it on' gesture. I can't help but smile at his cockiness. He takes them down within ten minutes, despite his broken wrist.

_'Only Jack can take two guys down with a broken wrist'_ I think amusedly. He runs over to his home phone. I'm guessing this is when he calls the police. As he talks, Kai and Frank silently get up behind him. I want to scream 'BEHIND YOU!' but I have to remind myself that this is the past.

We all watch in horror as Kai sneaks up behind Jack and grabs him from behind, putting one hand over Jack's mouth and his other arm around Jack's neck. Frank stands off to the side awkwardly.

Jack and Kai struggle a bit before Kai suddenly recoils, letting go of Jack. The blonde haired boy then notices the metal baseball bat that Frank had dropped earlier. He picks it up and slams Jack in the head with it just as Jack is going for the phone. He drops like a rock.

Kai smirks, going over to the phone and saying something before placing it back in its cradle. He and Frank then carry Jack out of his house. They leave the front door open, and a dark black van is seen driving off.

After a long silence, Milton is the first to speak up. "Wait a second… did any of you guys see the license plate of that car?" We shake our heads, and he restarts the video, skipping to the end where it showed the car. "It does!" he says excitedly. "We can turn this and the video into the police!"

I nod numbly. He notices. "Uh, Kim… we can go if you want. You can stay here." I nod again and walk out of the room. I listen as the guys go downstairs and exit Jack's house. One of them (probably Milton) closes the door as they go out.

My feet lead me to Jack's bedroom right after. I go in and drink in the familiar place. I spot his mom's silver camera on the little table next to his bed. Wondering when she left it in here, I pick it up and turn it on. I press the little button that shows all the photos taken, meaning to flip through and reminisce. Instead, I freeze, shocked at the most recent picture.

It's of Jack and I, asleep on his bed. In the photo, I buried myself into Jack's chest and he has his arms around my waist protectively. _'When was this taken?' _I think. I press another button and it shows the date that the photo was taken.

Last Sunday.

The day we were studying.

_'So that's why Jack was blushing the next morning'_ I think, remembering that the boy had asked me if I remembered something before dropping the subject. I just tear up all over again. I put the camera back where it was and flop onto his bed. I inhale his familiar 'Jack-smell' as I like to call it; a mixture of pine trees and the ocean breeze. _'Heh. That rhymes.'_

I close my eyes, feeling myself start to drift off.

_'Don't worry Jack. We'll find you.'_

* * *

**Yay, I feel better now! I hope there was enough Kick for you guys. Anyway, we're one chapter away from Chapter 10! So, to commemorate this wonderful event, the first 10 reviewers of Chapter 10 get to create a prompt for a oneshot! Just send it in and hope you're one of the first ten! The catch? I might not be updating on Saturday. It might be tommorow. It might be Wednesday. It might be Thursday. Or it might be Saturday. Heck, it might even be today! (Though i doubt that) So, keep an eye out! Exceptions and rules:**

**a) If I really like your idea, I'll still do a oneshot of it, so make them good.**

**b) No yaoi or yuri. It's not like I have a problem with them, but some people can't handle it.**

**c) You CAN NOT steal the idea of another author and call it your own. That's called plagiarism.**

**d) You can't enter more than once.**

**e) Make your idea specific. Don't just put something like 'Kick fluff'.**

**f) NO M-RATED ROMANCE. (M-rated horror i'm fine with)**

**g) You can make it another fandom like Danny Phantom or Victorious or something, but be warned that if i've never heard of it, i'm not using it. **

**h) If it's good enough, it might end up as a multiple chapter story. **

**i) Prompt entries must be on Chapter 10 ONLY. That's I'm waring you ahead of time on this chapter.**

**Good luck to you all!**

**Until then,**

**BP**


	10. Wednesday morning and afternoon

**Yay Chapter 10! Numero diez!(I put nueve at first. Epic spanish fail) I'm gonna be posting Chapter 11 later just 'cause I wanna. The contest winners will be listed on Chapter 12.**

**Disclaimer: **I am a middle schooler. How could I possibly own a martial arts teen sitcom?

* * *

_Rudy's POV_

I come out of my office and sigh at the sight before me. Milton, Jerry, and Eddie are all just sitting around looking glum. Kim isn't even here. I wish I could do something, but I really don't know what. I called Jack's mom—

"WHO TOOK HIM!?"

Well, there she is. She obviously jumped on the first flight to the U.S. "Hi, Mrs. Anderson. Apparently, your nephew, Kai, and Frank, one of Jack's fellow students, kidnapped him from your house on Sunday night."

Mrs. Anderson sighs. "That boy always manages to get himself in trouble," she murmurs. I smile at the fact that she's using humor to try and defuse the tenseness in the room. It works, because the guys smile a bit.

"Oh, Mrs. Anderson, we kinda… broke-into-your-house-to-get-security-footage-for-evidence-to-help-find-Jack," Milton says really fast. Michelle somehow understands him.

"Oh, that's okay. Kim used her emergency key, right?"

The guys nod.

"That's fine. You were just trying to help. Did you find anything useful?"

More nods.

"Ok, then, that's good. I should go talk to the police and head on home. I just wanted to come here and… you know, I actually have no idea why I came here." With that, she turns around and leaves the dojo.

"O…kay," I finally say. I look over at the guys. "Wanna go get some falafels? My treat." They nod and get up. Together, we walk over to Falafel Phil's.

* * *

_Mrs. Anderson (Jack's mom)'s POV_

After a trip to the police station, I head home. My sister is going to have a fit when she finds out that her son assisted in kidnapping my son. I mean, I know that the two boys didn't really like each other, but come on.

Did he really have to go so far as kidnapping?

Sure enough, when I make the international call to China, my younger sister Lisa is furious.

"HOW DARE HE? I CAN NOT EVEN DESCRIBE THE TROUBLE THAT BOY WILL BE IN WHEN I GET HIM BACK HOME!" She managed to calm down after a few minutes. "Did you know that he hopped on a flight to the U.S. without even telling me?"

"No!" I say, shocked.

"Yes! It was one of his friends that told me a few weeks ago. He said that some man named Greg came and offered him a deal to get revenge on his cousin or something, and Kai accepted." My heart practically stops as old memories resurface.

_'Marry me Michelle. We could elope together. My brother Greg can book us a flight to Cuba within one minute.'_

I shake my head. It has to be a coincidence. My sister didn't even notice my silence. "… and I swear that boy will never see the light of day ever again!"

"That's good for you, Lisa," I sigh.

"Oh! I'm being so thoughtless!" she exclaims. _'Ya just realized that?' _I think sullenly. "Here I am, babbling on about how I'm going to punish my son, when your son was the one kidnapped! I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry about it. Jack is a strong boy. He'll hold out until he's found."

"Good to know that you're staying positive Michelle. Don't even think about the fact that they may kill him or scar him for life—"

"I wasn't thinking about that until you mentioned it!" I whine.

"Oh, sorry! I should probably just hang up now."

"Yeah, you should," I snap bitterly. A fresh wave of worry washes over me as I hang up the phone. I walk upstairs towards my son's room, sighing and opening the door…

…only to find Kim fast asleep on his bed.

I smile. The poor girl is probably suffering more than I am. I go over to Jack's bed and pull the covers up, tucking her in. I suddenly worry about the fact that she might not have gone to school today. Her phone vibrates; it's her mother. I chuckle at the fact that Diane is probably going to be furious.

I call my old friend on my phone and explain to her that Kim is safe and she just fell asleep on Jack's bad. The woman begrudgingly admits that her daughter is taking Jack's kidnapping very badly. I go and make some lunch for Kim (the famous 'Anderson Spaghetti and Meatballs Special' as Jack, Kim, and their friends call it, and a glass of water), feeling like the girl would wake up soon. I find a piece of paper and write a little note next to it. Then, I go and take a nap.

* * *

_Jack's POV_

Gaaaaaaaaaaah.

I'm SO HUNGRY.

I wonder when the last time I ate was. Judging by my sleeping patterns (which have probably been off), it's probably Wednesday, which means I haven't eaten in three days. It didn't really help that the only time Ty ever let me out of this room was to use the bathroom, and even then it was in a windowless bathroom. The only exit was heavily guarded by three or four Black Dragons.

Is there any hope for me? There has to be! I've made it my goal to see Kim smile at least one more time!

I shift uncomfortably as my stomach rumbles again. As I do so, I feel something poke the base of my back. _'What the heck?'_ I think, as I crane my neck to see what it is.

_'Oh, it's just my phone.'_

…

_'My PHONE!'_ I've never been so happy to see that blue phone case in my life. Excited, I reach and grab it out of my pocket where I had forgotten it the day I got kidnapped. How am I going to get it in front of me?

Hmm…

I keep a firm hold on my phone. Then, after a few minute of struggling and intense pain (Ty tore my cast off yesterday), I manage to get my hands and the phone under my legs and directly in front of me (but my wrist is aching badly as a result). I turn it on, grateful that the battery is fully charged. I quickly enter my passcode and go to my contact list, finding Kim's name. I almost call her, but I decide that's too risky.

**_Need help. Frank and Kai kidnapped me. Pretty sure I'm BD dojo._**

I had figure this out based on the color scheme of the wall that I got a glimpse of whenever Ty or Kiara came in. I desperately hope that I get signal in here. Luck is on my side, because I do.

Now, all I have to do is wait.

About half an hour later, I'm almost ready to text one of the other guys before Kim replies.

(**_bold italics_**= Jack; **_underlined bold italics_**=Kim)

**_Omg Jack! Where in the BD dojo? I'll call the guys & we'll be right over there 2 get u out!_**

**_Wait. Can't let u guys get hurt. Stay BW dojo, & watch 4 Ty & the others 2 leave. Not sure if they will._**

**_Kk, Jack. R u ok? God, we miss u so much!_**

I hesitate.

Am I ok?

After the daily emotional (from Kiara) and physical (from Kai and Ty) abuse, I hardly think that I'm okay. Hannah's occasional company and thoughts of Kim are the only things that are keeping me sane in this hellhole. The (very small) arrogant part of me is yelling at me to be grateful that they're not hitting my face. I've ignored that voice, but it's getting pretty annoying.

**_Jack? R u ok?_**

**_Probably not_**

Well, it's close enough.

**_Wat da heck is that supposed 2 mean!?_**

**_Idk. U askd me a question. I answerd it. _**

**_Well… ok. See u 2night._**

**_See u then._**

I smile. I'm getting rescued. I'll be able to see Kim smile again.

At least, that's what I thought before Kiara came in.

_Kim's POV_

I wake up in Jack's bed. I must have fallen asleep. I catch a sniff of a smell that could only mean one thing;

THE ANDERSON SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS SPECIAL!

I sit bolt upright in Jack's bed. That stuff tastes so good that I can't even explain it. I look over to Jack's bedside table and, sure enough, sitting there is a plate of the awesomest thing you could ever possibly eat. Next to it is a little note. I pick it up.

_I know you're gonna be hungry. Dig in._

_-Mrs. Anderson_

I silently thank the kind woman that created this little heaping of heaven, before I chow down on it. The plate is nearly clean within ten minutes. I smile and rub my belly, satisfied. Then, I spot my phone next to the spot where the plate was. I pick it up.

_17 new text messages_

_4 new voice messages_

I roll my eyes. They're probably all from my mom. I go into the voicemails first. They _are_ all from my mom. Then, I dive into my text messages, reading and deleting them one by one.

_Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, JACK?_

The last text message is from Jack.

Quoting Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time, "OH. MAH. GLOB."

I quickly open the text from the best friend that I hadn't seen since Sunday.

**_Need help. Frank and Kai kidnapped me. Pretty sure I'm BD dojo_**

Oh my gosh. I almost tear up at the knowledge that my friend is still alive. I glance down at the time sent; twenty minutes ago. '_I love you so much! Never leave me again!' _I think as I type. Then I frown. I am _NOT _sending that. I delete what I typed and sat there for 10 minute thinking of a reply that would not imply that I love him. Finally, I settle on:

**_Omg Jack! Where in the BD dojo? I'll call the guys & we'll be right over there 2 get u out!_**

_'That's good enough'_ I think. _'…right?' _Jack replies immediately.

**_Wait. Can't let u guys get hurt. Stay BW dojo, & watch 4 Ty & the others 2 leave. Not sure if they will._**

_'Aww. The boy gets kidnapped and he could be going through all sorts of pain right now, and he's still worried about our safety.'_ I reply back:

**_Kk, Jack. R u ok? God, we miss u so much!_**

I don't get a reply. Did he actually have to think about that? I text him again, repeating the question.

**_Jack? R u ok?_**

**_Probably not_**

I frown. What the heck is that supposed to mean?

**_Wat da heck is that supposed 2 mean!?_**

**_Idk. U askd me a question. I answerd it._**

I shrug. He has a point.

**_Well… ok. See u 2night._**

**_See u then._**

I call the guys, excitedly explaining to them the conversation that took place between Jack and I. Fifteen minutes later, we're all sitting in Jack's living room.

"Wait a second," Eddie say, sniffing the air. "Is that… The Anderson Spaghetti And Meatballs Special I smell?"

"Yup," I reply. "You guys just missed it."

"Awww," they all say simultaneously.

"Anyway, how are we going to rescue Jack? We can't just go waltzing in there," Milton says. He has a good point.

"We can sneak in there," Jerry suggest. "You know, in that Bobby Wasabi movie, where he dressed up like a ninja to sneak into the enemy temple and rescue his partner?"

"Yes!" Milton suddenly says. We all look at him, and he rubs his hands together deviously. "I've got a plan."

* * *

Milton leaves and he doesn't come back for about an hour. When he finally does come back, he's wearing a business suit, a moustache, a thick pair of glasses, and a tie. He's holding a piece of paper and a tape measure. Jerry, Eddie, and I look up from the game of Monopoly we were playing in Milton's absence.

"Why—" Eddie starts to ask, before Milton cuts him of.

"Don't ask. Just know that the Black Dragons were actually stupid enough to believe I was an adult in this get-up." Eddie, Jerry, and I look at each other quizzically.

"I drew this map," he says, holding up the piece of paper. "of the Black Dragons dojo. According to it, there are two _secret rooms_, one of which they might be hiding Jack!"

"Oh my gosh, Milton that's great!" I say. "We can find Jack!"

"That's if he's at that dojo, though," Milton says dejectedly. "Jack said that he _thinks_ he's in the Black Dragons dojo. He never confirmed it."

"Stop being so negative!" I look around at my friends, making eye contact with all of them and smiling.

"We are GOING to find Jack."


	11. Wednesday evening

**WHY YOU GUYS NO ENTER MY CONTEST?! Only two people entered. And, nobody has answered my Danny Phantom poll. This makes me sad , you guys. Seriously. B(. Can you guys not do these two simple things? Please? Details for the contest are at the bottom of Chapter 9. The poll is on my profile. Thanks.**

**Disclaimer: **I don't think they'd let a 7th grader who thinks that one of the main characters is sexy (Leo, a.k.a. Jack, duh. You know it's true.) would be allowed to own the TV. If they are, though, feel free to let me know.

* * *

_Eddie's POV_

We're dressed up in black outfits. "It'll help with the camouflage," Jerry had insisted about an hour ago. Well, now that we're at the Black Dragons dojo in the middle of the night, it made sense. Our supplies? Flashlights, walkie talkies, Jerry's lock-picking kit, and two small hammers.

"Okay, that's the last person. You guys ready?" Kim whispers. We nod. She smiles, putting one fist in her other hand. "Wasabi!"

"Wasabi!" we whisper yell.

The plan commences.

We each have our individual roles. Milton's job is to sneak in first and disconnect all the security feeds in the dojo, so that Joan won't see us sneaking around. Once he's done, he'll inform us via walkie-talkie.

Next, we'll break in using Jerry's lock picking kit. I'll stand guard at the front door while he and Kim go inside and find the two secret rooms. In case Joan comes, I have some normal clothes on under these. I can tear the black ones off really quickly and come up with an excuse about being locked into the mall.

Okay, I know what you're thinking; oh, standing guard is so _boring._

Well, you're right. But every single time in the movies, it goes like this:

Somebody gets assigned as the guard.

The person is alert for about five minutes, before they get bored.

They'll slack off and not see the bad guy coming until the last second, or until they get caught.

Oh, yeah. I'm not gonna be like those people. I'm gonna sit at that door and watch like my life depended on it!

* * *

_Kim's POV_

Milton goes inside. Minutes later, he gives us the okay over the walkie talkies. "Good luck, you guys," he says as Jerry picks at the lock.

"Thanks, man," Jerry says. I stay silent, drinking in the importance of our mission. If we get caught, it's game over. The door swings open. Jerry smirks. "Works every time."

I roll my eyes and walk in past him. "Okay, Jerry. Remember; you're going for the room near the locker rooms. I'm looking for the one in the hallway." He nods. We head towards the door that leads to the hallway. He quickly picks that lock and opens the door. We walk into the hallway and turn a corner.

This is where I was assigned.

"Good luck, Kim," Jerry says, as he continues on.

"Same to you, Jerry," I reply. He opens the door to one of the locker rooms and goes inside.

"Wait a minute…" I murmur, as I squint at the door he just disappeared into. "Is that…?"

It is.

The girls' locker room.

_'Well then'_ I think, amused. _'Hopefully he won't see anything that will scar him for life. Heh. He'll probably enjoy it.'_

With that, I turn to the wall and take my small hammer out of my pocket. I start to tap the wall and listen for a hollow sound.

* * *

_Jerry's POV_

_(takes place during Kim's POV, what you just read)_

JACKPOT!

The locker room that I have to go through is the girls' locker room!

I look around. It looks exactly like a regular locker room. '_Not cool, man'_ I think. Grumbling to myself about how unfair this is, I walk over to the wall that Milton told me about. I take a small hammer out of my pocket and start tapping. Seconds later, a portion of the wall directly next to me opens up. A _really _cute girl that looks strangely like Jack walks out.

"Hmm… Milton never mentioned babes coming out of the wall," I say to myself.

"And you are?" she says, raising an eyebrow.

"The best thing that ever happened to you. A.K.A., Jerry. What'd it do, girl?" I flash her a dazzling smile. She rolls her eyes.

"Oh. You're one of Jack's friends. Hmm. Figures you guys would try to rescue him at some point." I feel my smile disappear.

"Aww. You're a bad guy? That sucks," I whine as she stalks toward me. I get into a defensive stance. "Well, you're going down. Or, you can join the good side and be my girl? Eh? Eh?" She tries to kick my head, and I duck out of the way. "Huh. Guess not."

* * *

_Jack's POV_

_'I hate Kiara.'_

_'No, I don't.'_

_'Yes, I do.'_

_'NO, I DON'T! ARGH, SHUT UP!'_

_'Wow, Jack. You've finally gone nuts, arguing with yourself about whether you hate your sister or not.'_

This is how the past half hour had pretty much gone. _'I don't hate her'_ I repeat to myself again, as I force my tear-stained face to look up at the remains of my necklace where they lay on the floor.

You see, after Kiara had caught me with my phone, she claimed that I needed 'punishment'.

_"Kiara. I know what you're thinking. Don't do it."_

_"But little Jackrabbit deserves his punishment," she said. She toyed with my necklace, and I winced as she yanked it off my neck in one swift motion._

_"Kiara. I'm begging you. I never beg. Do whatever you want to me but please… just leave my necklace alone."_

_"Hmm…" she said, as she picked up my phone. "This is one of those iPhones, right?"_

_I didn't answer._

_"How about I text whoever you were texting and tell them that they should come right now?"_

_My eyes widened. Letting her do that was the same as giving Kim her death sentence. "No…"_

_"Then you have a choice, Jackrabbit. The necklace, or your friend." I sighed. _

_"… friend," I whispered. She grinned manically and threw the necklace against the ground. The mood bead stayed intact, but the flashdrive breaks into four pieces. I held back a sob._

_That necklace was the last thing my dad gave me before he died. _

I sigh, another tear making its way down my cheek. 'At least the others are safe' I think, grateful that Kiara hadn't read the texts between Kim and I and found out that they were coming tonight.

Suddenly, a small tapping sound reaches my ears.

**Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.**

It seemed to be traveling along the wall. I have no idea what it could possibly be, but I'm smart enough to figure out that the door will open soon. I take a few deep breaths to calm down and bow my head so that my hair hides my expression. I feel my fists tighten angrily behind my back as I hear the familiar sound of that section of the wall sliding up.

"Before you say anything," I start, feeling that it's Kiara because of the feminine shoes that stand at the doorway. "I just wanna say that you can do your worst, but I'm won't stop trying to get my sister back."

"Jack?"

My head snaps up at the sound of Kim's voice. "Kim!"

She comes over and unties me. "Since when do you have a sister?"

"Aww, you didn't even tell your friends about me?" we hear a sickly-sweet voice ask from the doorway. We look up to see Kiara drop an unconscious Jerry onto the floor next to her. "Why? Were you too ashamed that you couldn't keep Ty from kidnapping me?"

I try to stand up, but my legs give out on me. Kim helps me up. "Kiara, I once again state that we were only TWO."

She shakes her head. "And even after your punishment earlier! When will you learn?"

"Learn what? Learn that I should stop trying to get my sister back? Because if that's the case, then I will NEVER learn!"

She stands there in shock. "You… mean that?" she whispers after a while. I smile.

"Yeah. I do." I step forward, holding my hand out to her. "Come on, Kiara. We can go home. Together." She tentatively starts to reach forward, but then the crackling sound of a walkie talkie interrupts the silence.

"Kim! Joan is coming, and Ty is with her!" Eddie's voice is heard coming from Kim's waist.

"Crap!" she hisses. "Commence Distraction plan A!"

"I already did!"

"Wha—? I'm not even gonna ask. Let's get out of here!"

"Let's get out of where?" Jerry says, suddenly waking up.

"Get up! We have to leave!" Kim orders, pulling him up. I glance at Kiara worriedly. The hardened glint had returned to her eyes, and I don't think she was convinced. But she followed us anyway.

We rush to the hallway and peek around the corner. Eddie is talking to Ty and Joan. Ty walks into the dojo. Eddie stays outside, but he worriedly glances back at the dojo every few seconds. Ty comes toward the hallway door. He scowls for a second before disappearing off to the right, probably going into his office. Joan walks away, and Eddie lets out what looks like a breath of relief. He turns around and looks through the glass doors curiously.

"Looks like the coast is clear," I whisper to the others. We run down the hallway and out the hallway door.

"Where did Ty go?" Milton asks.

"I think he just went into his office," I reply. His eyes widen.

"Ty's office is connected to the—!"

"Well, well, well, look what we have here!" We turn around to see Ty…

…with a gun.

"—hallway," Milton finishes dejectedly.

"Run!" I say. We run out of the dojo with Ty on our heels.

"Hey guys, where you going?" Eddie asks. He turns and sees the enraged sensei that is pursuing us.

"Oh, got it. Ty with a gun. Running!" He falls in step beside us as Kim calls the police.

We run through the mall, jumping over chairs and avoiding everything in the way.

"There's the exit!" Jerry says. But the gate is closed.

"Crap! I forgot to open the exit gate!" Milton says frantically.

"You've got nowhere to hide, kids," Ty says evilly. We turn around and see him stalking towards us just as the sound of police sirens begins in the distance. He makes eye contact with each of us, raising an eyebrow. "And where is Kiara?" I look around. No one even noticed she disappeared.

"HA!" Kiara's voice suddenly says. She appears behind Ty and kicks him, catching the gun as it flies out of his hand.

"Great job, sis!" I say, stepping toward her.

"Don't move!" she cries, holding the gun with both hands and aiming it at me. I freeze.

"Nice move, Kiara," Ty says, for some reason staying in his position on the ground. "Now give me the gun."

"You stay where you are, too!" she says, aiming it at him.

"Kiara. What are you doing?" I say slowly. The gun points at me again, wavering because of the shaking hands wielding it.

"Shut up! All of you have just been trying to mess with my head! I don't even know who to trust anymore!" As she speaks, tears leak out of her crazed eyes and run down her cheeks. "Why shouldn't I just kill you all off right now?!"

"Because you wouldn't shoot me, Kiara," I say quietly. I take another step toward her.

"Stay where you are!" I ignore her, taking another step forward.

"Kiara. You can trust me. I promise."

"Stop!" I know I'm risking my life here, but I ignore her again.

"Don't listen to him Kiara!" Ty calls from where he fell on the floor. Kiara and I look over at him. Jerry kicks him in the head, effectively knocking him out.

The police arrive, seeming to be unsure about how to get into the mall. Kim quietly explains what's going on as I turn my attention back to Kiara, taking yet another step forward. "I'll shoot you! I swear it!"

"No, you won't."

The gun goes off with a bang. Kim and the others (minus the police) gasp, but I don't even flinch as the bullet whizzes past my head and hits the wall behind me.

"You didn't even flinch," Kiara whispers.

"Exactly. Because I know you wouldn't shoot me. I trust you, Kiara." I hold my hand out. "Now it's your turn."

She stares at me for the longest time, but she finally lowers the gun and puts it in my hand. I smile as she rushes into my arms and starts sobbing.

"Shhhhh… it's okay," I whisper into her ear.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" she repeats, over and over again. I let her go.

"It's fine, Kiara." The police finally get into the mall, just as Ty wakes up. "Gah… what's going on?" he asks, as two officers pick him up and handcuff him. "Oh." He suddenly smirks, saying something into one of the officers' ears. After a moment's hesitation, the officer nods, and they lead Ty over to where Kiara and I are standing.

"Jack, I just wanted to ask you something," he says upon arriving in front of us. I narrow my eyes at him, handing the gun to a nearby officer.

"WHAT could you possibly want to ask me?" I growl.

"Ever heard of a multiholeular **(A/N: I just made it up, I have no idea if it's real) **dagger?"

"No," I say suspiciously. He makes eye contact with Kiara, and I see him fumbling with something behind his back.

"Well…" Within five seconds, he's kicked the two police officers down. He flips his hands over his head, and I spot a dagger in one of them. He lunges forward and moves to stab Kiara in the gut…

…but hits me instead. His face registers surprise at my noble action, but then he smirks again. "Multiholeular daggers were created in ancient China. The blade is riddled with millions of microscopic holes. The hilt of the dagger is hollow. In this hollow tube, you can pour in a poison. When you press a button, the poison empties out through the holes. Perfect for an assassination, or—"

He presses a purple button on the dagger, then yanks it out of my body. I fall to the ground while Kiara watches on in shock. "—getting rid of the son of the woman of my dreams!" He starts laughing evilly as the policemen he knocked over get up again. They grab him roughly and take him away, one of them radioing in for an ambulance.

I scoot back to where I'm leaning against the wall of a nearby store, clutching at my stomach. Kiara finally snaps out of it and kneels down next to me. "Jack… you saved me…"

I smile weakly. "Well duh. I was just reunited with my long lost sister three days ago. I'm not gonna lose her again just 'cause some psycho decided to stab her in the stomach." She smiles back at me, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Oh my god!" I suddenly hear Kim's voice say. She appears behind Kiara. "What happened?"

"Ty stabbed him in the stomach with a dagger that was filled with poison," Kiara whispers, standing up and letting Kim take her place.

"Oh my god," Kim repeats, starting to cry. She pushes down on my injury, probably trying to apply pressure to it.

"Kim…" She looks up at my face with tear-filled brown eyes. I weakly lift up my non-broken, also non-bloody hand and cup her cheek. That poison is already taking its effect on me. "Smile for me. Please."

* * *

_Kim's POV_

"Smile for me. Please."

I can't believe what he's asking me to do. Smile? When he's sitting here in front of me, _dying?!_

More tears stream down my face. Behind me, I hear Milton, Jerry, and Eddie's voices.

"What happened?" Eddie whispers.

"I'm not sure. But let them have their moment," Milton replies somberly. Their footsteps fade away.

"Jack, I... why do you want me to?"

"When I was sitting in that dark room all by myself the only thing that kept me going was the thought that I would be able to see you smile one last time..."

"I'm sorry... I can't. I can't do it."

"Hmm…" He coughs, but then puts on a thoughtful expression. "I sent an angel to look over you at night. The angel came back a minute later and I asked it why. It told me, 'Angels don't watch other angels.'"

I smile despite myself. "Aww, that's so sweet." Jack beams, but then coughs again. I frown nervously; the ambulance that the policeman radioed in for hasn't arrived yet. What can I do to help Jack until then? Well, I have to keep him awake. I know that much.

"Jack, just keep talking to me. You have to stay awake." He nods slowly.

"Oh, wait!" I reach into my pocket and take out Jack's necklace. I leave the broken flashdrive in my pocket, because I know Jack wouldn't want the to pieces to get lost. The mood bead turns purple as soon as my hand touches it. I stare at it a little bit, then hand it to him; it stays a deep purple. He chuckles weakly. "You realize what purple means, right?" he asks, looking at me through half-lidded eyes.

"What?"

"Love…" His eyes slide closed. It takes me a second to process what he said. It takes another minute to process what just happened.

"Jack… Jack! No! Wake up! JACK, WAKE UP!" I start sobbing hysterically, and by that time the paramedics had gotten here. _'COME HERE A LITTLE LATER, WHY DON'T YA?!_' I yell at them in my head, due to the fact that I'm crying too hard aloud too even get a word out.

Two of them come over and put Jack's limp body on a stretcher. "JACK!" I scream, as they carry him away. His necklace slips out of his hand. I pick it up and follow them, but one of the male paramedics stop me.

"Are you family?" he asks.

"No," A voice says behind me. I turn around and see Kiara. "I am. But I think she'll go nuts if you don't let her come with. Plus, she's a black belt in karate." I beam at her, and she smiles shyly in response.

"Fine," the paramedic says. "We don't have any time to lose." We follow him into the back of the ambulance. To my surprise, it's actually quite roomy. The paramedic hooks Jack (who is now on a gurney) up to a heart monitor and checks his vitals.

"Does he have any other injuries?" the paramedic asks, lifting Jack's shirt up and pressing down on Jack's stab-wound. I gasp at the numerous bruises that litter his chest and stomach, but Kiara just grimly says,

"He broke his wrist on Sunday. The cast was torn off on Monday. It might have been broken again, and if it did then it most likely didn't start to re-heal right. I think you also may need to know that the knife he was stabbed with was filled with poison."

The paramedic nods. "Thanks. That'll help a lot. Do you know what kind of…?"

I don't even hear the rest of their conversation as I stare at Jack. _'Just when we think you're safe' _I think. I reach up and run my hand through his soft hair, just like I did on that Saturday morning at the dojo. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was sleeping because of that tranquil expression on his face. My mind wanders elsewhere.

_'Love…'_

Does that mean he loves me? But mood-whatevers are usually fake, aren't they? I take out the necklace in question. _'Mysterious yet secretive… just like Jack.' _I smile at the comparison, then shove the necklace back in my pocket.

We arrive at the hospital ten minutes later. The driver gets out and opens the back door of the ambulance. Together, he and the paramedic sitting with us lift Jack and his gurney out of the ambulance. They rush him into the hospital. We follow, but on of the doctors inside don't let us go past the ICU doors.

"I'm sorry, but you two have to stay in the waiting room," she says apologetically. Kiara sighs and nods. Together, we head off the waiting room.

* * *

**Wow. Jack got hurt again, this time to protect his sister. Will things end well for him? Find out next time on,**

**Missing Him!**

**-BP**


	12. Wednesday night

**Thank you to the following people for entering a prompt for my contest:**_  
_

**_missme223_  
**

**_MrsCharlieAckles  
_**

**_Silverdawn2167  
_**

**It really means a lot, even though you three probably won't get your oneshots/ possible stories for a while. Sorry 'bout that.  
**

**Disclaimer:** If Leo Howard were here, I don't even know how I'd react. I can't own his show if there's a chance I might die of his sexiness.

* * *

_Kiara's POV_

Kim and I sit down in silence. I feel like a horrible person. I had assisted in the torturing of my only brother beyond what you would normally call 'pain'. After a while of wallowing in self misery, guilt, and hope (for Jack's well-being), I speak up.

"We never got properly introduced. I'm Kiara, Jack's sister."_ 'Might as well make conversation'_ I think.

"Kim, one of Jack's friends," she says. She smiles at me, but then frowns. "Why didn't Jack tell us he had a sister?" I guessed that 'us' meant she and the other guys.

"My guess is that he was convinced I was dead, and he didn't want to bring up the memories."

"Oh."

We sit in silence for a few more moments, before she pulls something out of her pocket and stares at it. Out of the corner of my eye, I'm able to identify it as Jack's necklace.

"Why is that so important to him anyway?" I ask softly. I feel like I've seen it before, but I don't know where.

"Well, he just got the mood bead a few days ago, but the broken part is actually a flashdrive that was given to him by his— and your— dad… before he died."

Her words are like a punch in the stomach. I purposefully broke what must be my brother's most prized possession. The guilt comes back tenfold. I feel my eyes begin to water as I whisper "Oh my gosh…"

"Kiara? What's wrong? You know, besides the fact that your brother's in the hospital." She says it jokingly, trying to console me, but it doesn't work.

"I'm the one that broke his necklace… I'm a horrible sister!" I bury my face in my hands.

"Hey, that's not true. You probably did what you thought was right. After all, you were kidnapped by Ty when you were little, right?"

I nod mutely.

"Well, he probably raised you to believe that Jack and his mom were monsters. I'm right about that too, aren't I?"

Another nod.

"Ok, then. Knowing Jack, he'll forgive you right off the bat. Don't worry about it."

I smile. "Thanks."

"No problem."

At that moment, Milton, Eddie, Jerry (I know them because of Ty's surveillance of them in their dojo), and a woman that I think I recognized rush in, going up to the front desk. I look at her curiously. Is it really…?

"Jack Anderson?" the woman asks. The lady at the front desk looks the name up in her computer.

"Jack Anderson… he's in the ICU right now, 'mam. No further information has been given." The lady looks up at the woman. "I'm sorry."

The woman sighs, turning around. She spots Kim and I sitting over here and her expression brightens slightly. She walks over and sits down across from us, Milton, Eddie, and Jerry following.

"Hello, Kim. Who's your friend?" She smiles at me in a friendly way. Kim looks confused, but before she can answer, I stand up.

"…Mom?"

My mother's smile fades, and she stands up as well. "Kiara?" she whispers. I nod, rushing forward and hugging her fiercely. She hugs me back just as tightly, running a hand through my wavy shoulder length hair. "Oh my goodness, Kiara. I've missed you so much. I can't believe it's really you…"

"I missed you too, Mom." It felt so good to say that. She keeps repeating how much she missed me, but then pulls away and cups my face with her hands. Her eyes fill with tears as she smiles. I smile back at her, and we hug again. I bury my head into the nook between her shoulder and her head, wishing I could stay in this position forever.

"Where have you been?" she whispers. I take a deep breath before replying,

"It was Ty. He kidnapped me." I feel her stiffen, and she pulls away again. I'm slightly disappointed; it felt so good to hug her again after so long.

"As in, Tyler Griffith, Ty?"

I nod. Her expression darkens. "When I get my hands on that man—"

"Jack Anderson?" We all whip around at the sound of a woman's voice calling Jack's name. The doctor notes our collective reaction and walks over. "Are you here for Jack Anderson?" We nod.

"Ok. He has a stab wound to the stomach, multiple severe bruises to his chest and stomach, and a broken wrist that did not re-heal properly. We had to re-break it in order to put in back in its correct position."

I wince. I know why he has every single one of those injuries. Heck, I'm the cause of some of them! It makes me sick to my stomach.

The doctor continues. "In addition, we were informed that the dagger he was stabbed with was filled with poison. It was discovered that this lethal substance is targeting some major components of his body. We have administered the antidote, so he'll be fine, but the combined effects of the antidote and the morphine that's been given to him can make one very drowsy. He'll be asleep for a while, but he may wake up for a little bit."

I nod. This is good news. Good news is… good. I look at the others. Kim, Mrs. Anderson, and Eddie look relieved. Milton looks curious, and I know he's about to ask a question. Jerry had completely zoned out at some point. "When can we see him?" I ask, before Milton can drag the doctor into some long discussion about antibodies and other medical stuff that I don't understand.

She looks down at her clipboard. "He's been moved out of Intensive Care, so… he's in room 316. You may visit him two at a time. If any of you note any strange patterns of breathing, feel free to tell me."

"Kim, Kiara, why don't you two go first?" Mom suggests. We nod. As we walk away, I hear Milton ask,

"But isn't your immune system supposed to create antibodies to fight off this sort of thing?"

Knew it.

Kim and I walk to Jack's room in comfortable silence. A blanket is covering him from the waist down. There are white bandages around the middle of his torso, but I can see Kim blushing at his bare upper chest as we sit in some chairs that are on either side of the sleeping Jack's bed. Kim grabs his hand and squeezes it gently. I smile.

"You're really close to him, aren't you?"

"Yeah. We're best friends."

"But you want to be something more," I say, judging by the way she said 'friends'.

"Pshh… whaaaat?" I giggle at the denial in her voice. It's so obvious.

"I'm pretty sure he like you back, you know. He has a picture of you with 'My Angel' under it in green letters on his phone." I got a little bored whenever I took his phone from him, so I snooped a little.

"…"

"He does. I'm not kidding."

Kim stares at Jack's sleeping face. I can see a small smile on her face as she reaches forward and brushes a stray hair out of his closed eyes, then moves her hand to his hair and starts running it through his brown locks. He mumbles something that sounded strangely like _"Hey girl. Did you miss me?" _and moves closer to the touch. She sighs.

"Please be okay, Jack."

* * *

_Jack's POV_

_My eyes fly open. As I slowly come to my senses, I figure out that I'm lying on my back on a hard and rough surface. I sit up to find myself surrounded by trees. _

_Am I in a forest?_

_I hear the crack of a twig. My head snaps toward the sound, and my reflexes react, but it's just a curious fox. It comes closer, making small sniffing sounds. I'm pretty sure a normal fox wouldn't come this close by itself. So, what's drawing this one to me? _

_The fox is at my side now. It nudges my hand with its hand, asking me to pet it. I saw a white patch of fur around one of its eyes, and it's then that I realize that this is Twila, the vixen (at that time she was a kit) that my grandmother had found one day hiding under the porch during a bad rainstorm._

_"Hey, girl. Did you miss me?" Then it hits me; Twila lives in the woods around my grandparents' house. Does that mean that I'm near their house? I stand up, looking around. Sure enough, I spot my grandparents' cottage a ways from my current position. I start running toward it, Twila running happily behind me._

_ I finally get to my grandparents' house. The back door is open, and three people (that are supposed to be dead but that I'm grateful for for being here) look up as I walk in; Grandma, who was knitting; Grandpa, who was watching what looked like a karate movie (it reminded me of the time before he died, where, whenever I went to his house for the summer, we'd always watch a karate movie and 'analyze' the actors' and actresses' karate moves when they fight); and…_

_"Dad!"_

_He smiles, looking up from the movie. "Hey, kiddo."_

_I turn to my grandparents. "Grandma, Grandpa!" They smile. Twila leaves my side and pads over to my grandmother, jumping onto the couch next to her and curling up like a cat. _

_Then I frown. "Wait, if I'm here with you guys, does that mean…?"_

_"Oh no, you're not dead," Grandma says, answering my question._

_"But you came quite close," Grandpa says grimly. A wind blows in through the door I just came in from, and with it comes the sound of Kim's voice saying _"Please be okay, Jack."

_I look around, raising an eyebrow as I notice a man in the corner in all black. "Kim is here?" I ask._

_Dad chuckles. "Why, you want her to be here?" I feel heat rising in my cheeks as they all laugh. _

_"So, why am I here?" I ask, after they all fall quiet. The man in the corner stays silent, and it's bothering me. _

_"Well, first of all, your grandmother wants to know how your mood bead is working," Dad says._

_"You mean…"_

_"Yes, I was Madame Vague at the carnival you went to," Grandma says._

_"How?" I ask._

_"Don't ask about the details, but I'm very close friends with a ghost named Clockwork," Grandpa answers. _

_"… ok. Well, it's working fine I guess. But…"_

_"What's bothering you, kiddo?" Dad inquires._

_"First of all, how did I know that purple meant love?" I ask. "I mean, before I passed out (I know that this is a dream, by the way), I remember smiling when her hand touched it and it turned purple. I somehow knew, but I don't know how."_

_"I'm not exactly sure how it works. I just know that when you see one of the colors for the first time, you'll automatically know what it means," Grandma explains._

_"Then how come I didn't know what black means at the carnival?"_

_"You did."_

_I'm confused at the response. Did I know what black meant? Whatever; it doesn't matter._

_"Ok, and who's that guy?" I point to the man in the corner, finally bringing him up. Everyone's (minus the man and) expression turns grim. _

_"Jack… that's the poison in you," Dad finally says. "You have to fight him at some point." At this statement, the 'poison' turns around and grins evilly, tapping a watch on his wrist. 'Poison' makes me nervous. After all, if I can't beat him, then I die. _

_The air around me suddenly shifts and wavers, as if someone had disturbed the surface of a calm body of water. "What just happened?" I ask, slightly panicked. Grandma looks at me sadly. "We don't have much time left."_

_I panic even more. "I'M DYING?!" _

_Grandpa chuckles. "No, just the opposite; you're waking up, even if it is for a little while."_

_I frown, my panic fading. "Am I gonna see you guys again after I fall asleep… again?" It felt weird saying the same word twice in one sentence._

_"Probably not. But maybe, someday," Dad says comfortingly. I feel tears prick the corners of my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall._

_"I'm gonna miss you guys." I go around and hug them one by one, saving my dad for last._

_"Just remember that we're always by your side. Tell your mother and Kiara that we love them," he says. The air wavers again, and this time it doesn't stop. "And Jack, whatever you do, don't stop fighting, even if you just want to give up! The doctors have done all they can physically! You HAVE to fight!" he adds, right before he, my grandparents, Twila, and the whole room disappear._

* * *

_Kim's POV_

I sigh. "I guess we should give the others a chance to see him before Visiting Hours are over." Kiara nods in agreement. We stand up, starting to walk out of the room…

…when Jack lets out a low groan.

Kiara and I freeze in our positions. One second later, we're sitting in the chairs we were in before.

"Jack?" He groans again, his eyebrows knitting together for a second, as if he's concentrating on waking up. Finally, his brown eyes open slowly, blinking a few times. Kiara and I both beam like children on Christmas morning.

"Oh my gosh, Jack, I… I mean _we_ were so worried about you!" Kiara smirks at my little slip.

"Hey, new-found, twin. How you feeling?" she asks.

"Like I just got stabbed in the stomach with a dagger filled with poison," he says dryly. He tries sitting up, but winces in pain. I gently push him back into the pillows.

"Jack, you just woke up. You're still a little w—" I freeze. I almost said 'weak'. And that's a bad thing.

If you call Jack Anderson weak, you better be ready for a world of pain (physical or verbal). I realize something is wrong when he doesn't angrily say something concerning my slip up.

"I'm gonna go find the doctor and tell her you're awake, 'kay?" Kiara says, oblivious to what just happened. Before we can reply, she walks out of the room.

Jack turns his head on the pillows and stares up at the ceiling. "Kim, what if I don't make it through this?"

I'm shocked at the question. "Jack, what the heck? You're doing just fine!"

"…I talked to my dad. And my grandparents. While I was sleeping."

I hope Kiara hurries back with the doctor; I think Jack hit his head on something.

"Yes, my dead dad, and my dead grandparents. Dad told me I had to fight the poison, because the doctors have done all they can physically. What if I can't win?"

"Jack, please don't say that. Remember the Wasabi Code: 'We swear by the light of the Dragon's eye, to be loyal and honest and never say die'. You're gonna be fine! Stop being so pessimistic."

He smiles, turning his gaze turning to the ceiling. "Kim… hmm."

I'm curious, despite the fact that he may be going nuts. "What?"

"I won a little stuffed animal from the carnival." He pauses as he looks back at me, blushing a little. "It's a baby porcupine wearing a gi. It's sitting in my room somewhere, but it reminded me of you."

"…"

"…"

"I remind you of a small mammal with spikes on its back?" I deadpan, more of a statement than a question. A slightly amused smile plays at the corner of my lips.

"No! I mean, yes, but in a good way!" I hold back a laugh at his flustered expression. "Sorry, I never should have mentioned it. Just forget it."

The laugh comes out a little. "Jack, it's okay. I was just messing with you."

He smiles, his expression becoming tired; he's falling back asleep. "Mmkay."

"Jack, hold on, your mood necklace. Is it…" I trail off, not knowing how to word my question.

He chuckles. "Yeah. It is." He reaches up and cups the side of my face. I put my hand on top of his. He smiles again. "Wait, before I'm out," he suddenly says, forcing his eyes open so that he could get out his sentence. "Dad… he wanted me to tell Mom and Kiara that he and Grandma and Grandpa love them." His tired brown eyes bear into mine. "Could you do… that for… me?…" His voice turns into a whisper as he loses the battle against sleep. His arm goes limp, and I gently place his hand on his stomach.

"You'll be fine, Jack. But I'll tell them anyway."

Kiara and the doctor come in just as I stand up. "Aww. I missed him?" Kiara whines. The doctor checks his vitals.

"Everything's normal," she chirps. "He should be awake by tomorrow." I nod, glancing over at Kiara. She's gazing longingly at her sleeping brother. I can guess how she feels right now; she never got to really talk to him before he fell asleep.

"Kiara… Jack says that your dad and grandparents love you," I say, feeling that my sentence was worded wrong. She looks at me curiously, then smiles and nods. We walk out of the room and back into the waiting room where the others are, well, waiting. I repeat Jack's message to Mrs. Anderson. She sighs and smiles, then goes off to Jack's room with Rudy.

I call my mom and ask if I can stay over at Jack's house. After some convincing, she finally agrees. Rudy and the other guys pile into his car. I climb into the back of Mrs. Anderson's car with Kiara.

"Kiara, do you have anything at the Black Dragons dojo that you want to pick up?"

Kiara's eyes widen. "Oh my gosh, Hannah is still there!"

"Who's Hannah?" I ask. She look at me with a worried expression.

"She's Frank's little sister. Ty kidnapped her, too."

Mrs. Anderson gasps and takes off. We get there within five minutes; the mall is crawling with police, just like Jack's house a few days ago. Kiara and I run in, ignoring the angry shouts of policemen behind us.

When we get to the BD dojo, I let Kiara go in first because I don't know where Hannah is. She runs to the wall that Jerry was supposed to 'investigate' earlier and taps a certain place. A section of the wall slides open, revealing a small bedroom. _'So the other secret room was Kiara's room'_ I think.

A brown haired little girl is sitting on the bed playing with a giant yellow unicorn toy. She looks up as we come in. "You said you wouldn't be long," she pouts.

"I'm so sorry. But guess what?"

The girl, who I assumes is Hannah, brightens. "What?"

"You can go home now!"

Hannah beams, jumping off the bed and dancing around with her stuffed animal. Kiara and I smile as she rejoices.

"Did you hear that, Banana? We can go home! You can meet Mommy and Daddy!"

A policeman comes in behind us. "What's going on he—?" He spots Hannah, raising an eyebrow. "Is that Hannah Jones?"

Kiara and I nod. He smiles. "Well, that's another case solved." He leads the three of us out of the room. Hannah skips along, singing the 'F.U.N.' song from Spongebob. Kiara and I look at each other, shrug, grin, and start playing out the scene from that episode.

(**Kiara=bold=Plankton, **Hannah=underlined=other, _Kim=italics=Spongebob,** Kiara and Kim=italics and bold,** **italics bold and underlined=all)**_

_"It's not about winning, it's about fun!"_

**"What's that?"**

_"Fun is when you...fun is...it' like...it's kinda...sorta like a... What is fun? HERE...Let me spell it for you!_

_F is for Friends who do stuff together. _

_U is for You and me. _

_N is for Anywhere and anytime at all,"_

"Down here in the deep blue sea!"

**"F is for Fire that burns down the whole town.**

**U is for URANIUM...BOMBS!**

**N is for No survivors when you're-"**

_"Plankton! Those things aren't what fun is all about!_

_Now, do it like this,_

_F is for Friends who do stuff to-"_

**"Never! That's completely idiotic!"**

_"Here, Let me help you..._

_F is for friends who do stuff together._

_U is for You and me, TRY IT!"_

**"N is for Anywhere and anytime at all."**

"Down here in the deep blue sea!"

**"Wait...I don't understand ...I feel all tingly inside...Should we stop?"**

_"No! That's how you're supposed to feel!"_

**"Well I like it! Lets do it again!"**

_"Okay!"_

**_"F is for Frolic through all the flowers._**

**_U is for Ukelele_**

**_N is for Nose picking, chewing gum, and sand licking._**

**_Here with my best buddy."_**

**_(Laughing part)_**

**_"Down in the deep blue sea!"_**

By the time we're done, EVERYONE, even the policemen and Mrs. Anderson, are singing. It was a nice way to end a stressful day.

…

Heh. That rhymes.

* * *

******Yay! Another ending to another chapter! I thought i should have ended this on a happy note after all of the serious stuff, so... yeah. Until the number of people that have entered my contest gets to ten, it will still be open. Details on chapter 9.  
**

**Until next time,  
**

**-BP  
**


	13. Thursday

**Ok, first of all. Anonymous reviewer ****_I win_****? I want to tell you something:**

**YOU SUCK.**

**Now, before any of you say i'm hating on a random stranger, I actually know ****_I win_**** personally. We stand at the same bus stop, we go to the same middle school, and we have 5-6 classes together depending on the day (if you include NBI as a class). So, yeah. Continuing with my message to ****_I win_****.**

**YOU LITTLE MIDGET (even though he's a half a centemeter taller than me)! BLARGGGGG! HOW DARE YOU... I DON'T EVEN... BLARG! YOU SUCK! But I WILL NOT say ****it**** in front of all my other reviewers, so don't even think that you can get me to. Your oneshot, by the way? It's gonna be a crackfic. You can garuntee that. Mmmmm... yeah, you're probably gonna read this, so i shall include: How's Kevin? Haven't seen him in a while... *gasp* DID YOU KILL HIM?! You're always talking about how you want to. Aww, Kevin's a sweet kid. Why'd you do it? B-D (smiley face w/ glasses. Betcha didn't realize that, HUH? 'Cause you're so stooopeeeed.)**

**To all my other reviewers, if you and a friend have read the book ****_Pathfinder_**** by Orson Scott Card, then play this game: Every time you can get your friend to say 'shut up', then you win. Vise versa, and he/she wins. (That's why ****_I win_****'s name is 'I win'.) It's just like the thing between Rigg and his father. **

**Another thing: Last chapter, Jack's dad said to say that him and his ****_grandparents_**** love him, but when he told Kim, and Kim told Kiara, i didn't include the grandparents. So, i fixed that. **

**ALSO, I forgot to mention this: Clockwork, the guy that Jack's grandpa was talking about? Yeah, he's a Danny Phantom reference. :)**

**Wait, there's one more thing(i can't believe i forgot to mention this):**

**THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF THIS STORY!**

**No, I'm not abandoning it, this is the actual last chapter of this story. But never fear!There WILL be a sequel, because you guys may have foregotten that Greg is still on the loose!**

**I'd like to thank all of my reviwers: (Italicized are guest reviwers)**

10pandasrule10

88Keys

88Madison88

aligning street lights

ashleyfire

Acfprincess

ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWast ed

Aqua468

blueskyz101

brirae96

Bluedog270

BringingTheFun

Cat2305

canislupis1999

_cass_

_Codex_

CookieRaider8

demi101

Disneyluver89

Dreaming2BAWriter

_emster_

Frozenstar03

_girl next door_

Glee Clue Rock 1251

_Guest (there were many of these, so yeah)_

HaddixStitches

_hgirl_

_Honey Bee_

_I LOVE KICK_

_I win_

ilovesports1999

Jamieluvslife

JasmineLeif

Kaitniss

_KICK_

_KICK 3_

KickForeva

Kickin Taylor

_Kickinitgirl102_

_kickforever_

LightXDarknessKH

_Little Model_

LiveYourPassions

lalabooboo

lightning bird

LoveMusic4ever

LovePercabeth4eva

LoveShipper

missme223

moustachelover14

MrsCharlieAckles

NewObsessionxoxo

_Nikki_

_nicky_

PickleDough

_Pokemonaddict_

_person_

_Rocky Pond_

_Rose_

September14Fall

Silverdawn2167

Sky- XD

Spot An Appaloosa

sad-beautiful-tragic

stikenotes

sweber22

swiftstar1

_STUFF_

StupidlyGenius

_Taylor_

TeddyBear98

TheHoAProtagonist

toughwolf

_Vanessa_

_Varsha_

WatchTheMemoriesFade

Wrterchica22

.SakuraxxX

**Ok, I'm done boring you, but I will rant about how awesome the people who review are at the bottom.**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kickin' It. But, if my... friend, _I win_ ever owned Kickin' It, the world (in the show) would probably blow up in, like, every episode.

* * *

_Kim's POV_

I open my eyes as sunlight streams in through Jack's window. I sit up, momentarily confused about why I'm not in my own room, but then I remember that I spent the night here last night.

I get out of the bed. Mrs. Anderson didn't need to stop by my house last night since, because, since I stay here so often, I have an overnight bag in Jack's closet. I go and get the overnight bag, grabbing the toothbrush and the hairbrush out of it. I get ready as if it was a normal school day. Even though it's not, I still have to go.

I walk downstairs, suddenly remembering that my bookbag is at home. But for some reason, it's sitting next to the front door. I shrug, walking through the living room to get to the kitchen. As I do so, I spot Kiara and Mrs. Anderson on a couch looking at one of their family albums. I smile at the sight of the two reconnecting after so long.

I make my way over to the kitchen and grab a box of 'Captain Crunch' out of a cupboard. I open the fridge and grab the half-full gallon jug of milk. I open a drawer and get a spoon, sitting down at the kitchen table.

After finishing my breakfast, I walk back into the living room and glance at the clock. _7:36__**. **_About ten minutes before the bus gets here. I stroll back upstairs, past the pair who are now watching home videos.

I walk into Jack's room, looking around. He had said something about a stuffed animal…

There! I spot it sitting on his computer desk. I go over and pick it up. Next to it is an open notebook (this notebook, as it turns out, will be very important in the near future) that has Jack's surprisingly neat handwriting (I have no idea how his handwriting is so… so… _good! _That's the only way I can describe it. It makes me jealous, and I don't get jealous about many things.) scrawled in it. I go over and pick the stuffed animal up.

_'Aww, it's so cute.'_ I think, despite myself. I stand there for a few minutes, when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I notice a small light blue piece of paper sticking out of a drawer in Jack's computer desk. I curiously pick it up.

_Your friends are concerned,_

_How sweet of them!_

_If you want them to stay alive,_

_Keep your lips shut then. _

_P.S. ACCEPT KIM'S APOLOGY._

I stare at it, mouth agape. _'That's why he wouldn't tell me what was wrong at the carnival?' _I wonder, thinking back to those days that Jack was getting the notes. His emotions were all over the place because of them. I was gonna ask him about them on that Friday, but I never got a chance.

_'He really does care about me.'_ I think. Tears come to my eyes. I know something had happened on that Friday that Jack stayed at the dojo by himself, but I don't know what. Now, I'm pretty sure it had something to do with Ty and the Black Dragons. Knowing Ty and his (usually failing) plots, he had probably used the notes to rile Jack up just enough so that he'd have to take his anger out on the dummies.

Alone.

My guess is that he had some people go and take Jack out. As for the color of the notes… hmm. Maybe they were leading up to red to symbolize something bad happening? I don't know.

I suddenly remember school. Worriedly glancing at the time, I see that I only have one minute left. I run down the stairs, calling out a good-bye to Mrs. Anderson and her daughter. Before I can get out the door, though, Mrs. Anderson offers to take me to school in her car. I pause. _'Do I want to go on the bus?'_

I decide no, and I close the door and walk over to the living room. "Thanks, Mrs. Anderson."

"Don't mention it, sweetie."

Kiara looks at us curiously. "What are you talking about?" she asks me.

"How I'm gonna get to school," I reply nonchalantly. She tilts her head slightly in confusion.

"You know. School. The torture-hole where you have to listen to those boring—" I pause at the look that Mrs. Anderson's giving me. "— I mean… those _wonderful _teachers make you learn and take tests and all this stuff that will set you up for your future?" Mrs. Anderson nods approvingly at my description, but Kiara just looks more confused.

"Don't you mean Learning Time With Teacher Ty?"

I stare at her in shock, while Mrs. Anderson mutters something and tries to hide the dark look on her face. If I didn't know any better, I would think that I just heard something about killing Ty and burying him with textbooks full of the learning standards. Or maybe it was surgically implanting textbooks full of the learning standards into his brain. I'm not sure.

_'So that's where Jack gets his anger-driven plots from.'_

"Umm, Mrs. A, could you excuse us for a sec?" I ask Mrs. Anderson nervously, as a few more seconds go by and her mouth is taken over by an evil smile (I sometimes, but rarely ever, see this expression on Jack's face) that I hope to never see again on this kind woman's face.

* * *

At the Seaford Jail, Tyler Griffith gets a sudden fear of textbooks with learning material in them.

* * *

"Bye Mrs. Anderson, bye Kiara," I say to the pair as I close the car door behind me. They reply with their farewells and Jack's mother drives away. After Kiara and I walked out of the room back at the house, she called someone on her phone. I let her cool down a bit, like I sometimes do with Jack, then Kiara and I come back in just as she finished a call. She had a small (but less evil and more pleasant) smile on her face.

The same smile that Jack normally has after he gets revenge.

This made me (and Kiara, after I told her about Jack's (and also apparently Mrs. Anderson's) dangerous anger) _very_ nervous, but we didn't say anything.

As soon as I walk into the school, Milton, Jerry, and Eddie are by my side. No words are exchanged, but we all know one thing:

This is gonna be a _long_ school day.

* * *

_No POV_

Delilah White sighs as she plops down on a chair in the break room. The young nurse is pretty tired after four hours straight of non-stop scurrying from room to room, carrying out the patients' needs and doing her job. Whether it's delivering food, passing on cards from worrying families and concerned friends, reapplying bandages, or whatever it is, she has to do it. This is the first time she's been able to sit down for a long while, and when her lunch-break ends it's back to work.

The door to the break room opens, and Delilah's best friend Summer Winters walks in. Delilah smiles; whenever she sees her friend, she's always reminded of the girl's unique contrasting first and last names.

"Hey, Del," Summer greets, sitting down across from the tired Delilah and turning on the small TV located in the corner of the ceiling in the room.

"Hi, Summer," Delilah says. She mentally contemplates about weather or not she could use her foot to open the fridge and retrieve her lunch so she wouldn't have to get up.

"Long day so far?" Summer asks, while changing the channel to her and Delilah's favorite show, _World's Dumbest_. The redhead looks at her friend in sympathy.

"Yup," Delilah replies tiredly. "Room after room after room after _room_!" She finishes her sentence with a dramatic flourish of her hands, sighing as she realizes her foot can't make it to the fridge.

Summer nods in agreement. Delilah, instead of giving up, rolls her chair over to the fridge and grabs her and Summer's lunches, then rolls back to the table. Summer thanks her raven-haired friend, and together they spend their lunch break laughing at those idiots. (Criminals, if you want to be specific)They laughed some more when a commercial came on playing "Hey There Delilah" in the background.

"Lunch break is over," Delilah announces with a sigh, as she throws away the trash from her meal and stands up. Summer does the same.

"Yeah. See you later, Del," Summer says, smiling at her friend and walking out of the room with Delilah following.

"Ok," Delilah calls over her shoulder as they part ways.

_'Ok, what to do now…'_ Delilah thinks. She reviews what her tasks are.

_'Oh yeah, I had to redress the injuries of the patient in 316, as well as replacing his IVs.'_

Delilah walks down the familiar halls of the hospital until she gets to the closet that holds the IVs drip things. She takes the two that she needs out and then walks to her destination. Dressing and/or redressing wounds is _not_ her favorite part of her job. Seeing the gruesome injuries and wounds… it makes her shudder just to think about them. But, once again, she has to do it.

She arrives at the room. Lying on the bed is a brown-haired teenager with a bandage around the middle of his torso. Bruises litter the visible part of his chest. She sighs.

It's always the younger patients that get to her.

She replaces his almost empty drip bags with the full ones she just brought. As she's changing his bandages, she notices that his heartbeat rate has risen a bit since she came in, and he's breathing a little faster. Frowning, she looks at his clipboard then goes to tell his doctor.

* * *

_Kim's POV _

I walk out of the school with Milton, Eddie, and Jerry. All of us are thankful that the long school day is over. It felt so weird, not having Jack by my side in any of my classes.

I start to walk to the bus with the guys, but then I notice Mrs. Anderson's parked car out of the corner of my eye. Puzzled, I walk over.

"Mrs. Anderson?" I ask, bending down slightly so I could talk to her through the open window. The guys are standing a few feet behind me. "Kiara? What are you guys doing here?"

"Waiting for you four," she says with a worried look on her face. That can only mean one thing:

Something's wrong with Jack.

We pile into the backseat without a word. Mrs. Anderson starts the engine and speeds off to the hospital.

**30 minutes later (The following scene has two different scenes going on at once; Jack's internal fight with the poison, and Kim sitting by Jack's beside. It will be switching back and forth between the two, so they will be separated by a series of letters (abc).)**

We run into the hospital. Mrs. Anderson spots Jack's doctor waiting by the front desk.

"Has he gotten any better?" the frantic mother asks. On the way to the hospital, she had filled us in. Jack's heartbeat had sped up, and he's breathing heavily. The doctors can only blame it on the poison, but they can't figure out what's going on. The doctor shakes her head.

"No, it seems like he's only worsened. It's as if the poison is making a comeback or something."

Without even thinking, I run off towards Jack's room. I hear the doctor call after me, but Mrs. Anderson stops her. I mentally thank the woman, before concentrating on where I'm going. My sneakers pound loudly against the tiled hallway floor.

_'310… 312… 314… 316!'_ I skid to a stop in front of Jack's room. Taking a deep breath, I walk in.

Jack looks exactly like I imagined him; pale and breathing hard, but fighting. I go over and sit in the chair I was in yesterday, grabbing his hand and squeezing tight.

_'Come on, Jack. You can beat this.'_

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

_"Gah!" I gasp, as he flips me and my back meets the floor—hard. 'Poison' smirks._

_"What? Weak little Jackrabbit can't even put up a fight?" he sneers. Growling, I slowly stand back up. _

_"Ha!" I aim a kick at his head. He easily dodges, throwing a punch at me in retaliation. I manage to dodge it by a hair, but my bruises and tired muscles complain loudly. _

_I'm not sure I can keep this up much longer._

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

He lets out a small gasp. I can tell he's trying so hard…

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

_I grunt as he slams me against a wall, pinning me there. I glare at him, unable to move. He smirks back at me._

_"Hmm… I don't think this is fair…" he says. Suddenly, instead of a grown man, there is a teen standing in front of me._

_Another version of me._

_But he has black hair and dark red eyes. He knees me in the stomach and steps back, letting me go. I collapse onto my hands and knees, clutching at my stomach and panting. He squats down in front of me, lifting my chin up with a cold finger. "Why don't you just give up, Jack?" The room around us turns dark, as if a black cloud had been released. "Succumb to the darkness, Jack. It'll be so much easier." The darkness comes closer, beckoning, inviting. I feel my will slipping away._

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

The rapid beeping of the heart monitor had now changed to slower, still-not-normal beeps. I look up at it fearfully, dreading the flat line that is sure to come if Jack doesn't recover. I turn my attention back to Jack.

"Jack, please. Fight it! You can't die. I—" My voice breaks. "—I need you."

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

_I freeze as I hear Kim's voice. It sounds so sad, so broken. _

_'_I have to beat this guy. For Kim.'

_A new-found determination runs through me. I stand up, and the darkness recedes to the corners of the room. Poison smirks. _

_"Aww, little Jackrabbit wants to fight for his girlfriend. How pathetic." He gets into a defensive stance. "Whatever. I can do this all day."_

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

The slow beeping of the heart monitor goes back to its previous rate. I smile, but only briefly. This is only a small victory. Jack's heartbeat still has to go back to normal, and he still has to wake up.

"Come on, Jack. If you don't wake up, I'm gonna kill you."

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

_With Kim's encouragements driving me on, I feel like I can do anything. I ignore my injuries and feign a kick at his side, punching him in the stomach at the last second. I take advantage of his surprise and aim a kick at his chest. He stumbles backward, but manages to regain his balance. I smirk. I'm gonna take this guy down._

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

I smile as Jack smirks a little. The familiar facial expression reminds me that Jack is strong.

"You can do this, Jack."

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

'Uh oh'_ I think, as Poison suddenly whips out a knife. _

_"I can't believe it's come to this, Jack. But you've left me with no choice."_

_"No choice?! How about leaving me alone?!"_

_He snorts. "I can't 'leave you alone', ya idiot! I'm in your bloodstream! I'm just an image your brain conjured up to represent me. This knife is just a representation of the 'poison' stepping it up a notch."_

_I roll my eyes. "Whatever. Just come on. I have a special girl to wake up for."_

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

I sigh, moving the chair closer to Jack's head and running my fingers through his soft hair. Suddenly, the chorus of a song pops into my head. I start singing it softly under my breath.

"_I have died everyday,_

_Waiting for you._

_Darlin' don't be afraid,_

_I have loved you for a, _

_Thousand years._

_I'll love you for a, _

_Thousand more."_

I feel a tear slide down my cheek. "Fight it, Jack."

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

_I am finally gaining the upper hand. I kick the knife out of his hand. He clutches the hand in pain, cursing under his breath. He lunges for the knife, but it disappears. His eyes widen._

_"No!"_

_I smirk. "Not so tough anymore, are you?"_

_He steps toward me menacingly, but then trips and falls flat on his face._

_He doesn't get back up._

_Instead, he turns into a bunch of black mist and fades out of existence. I smile tiredly, groaning and sinking to my knees as the pain from my injuries finally catches up to me. I fall forward, onto the ground._

_"I won, Kim…"_

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

His breathing slows. His heartrate goes back to that of a normal sleeping person. I beam. He did it.

He won.

I just wish he would wake up now. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the fact that the poison didn't kill him, but still…

"Kim?"

My head snaps up. Jack's half-lidded brown eyes stare back at me sleepily.

"Jack!"

He tries to sit up, but fails and falls back against the pillows. He sighs.

"Don't worry, Jack. You'll be out of this hospital bed soon."

He turns his gaze to the ceiling. "Thanks."

I'm puzzled. "For what?"

He looks back at me. "If it wasn't for you, I don't think I would have been able to fight that poison off. You know, when you were talking... and singing."

I blush slightly. "Oh… you heard that?"

He grins. "Is that not what I just said?"

We both laugh a little, before he winces at the pain of his injury. Right at that moment, the doctor and the others walk in. Rudy is with them. I briefly wonder what they were doing this whole time, but I push the thought to the back of my mind. That's not what's important right now.

"Jack! You're awake! How are you feeling?" the doctor asks.

"I dunno. All right, I guess."

"Ok, you're gonna need to stay here for a few more hours while we take some tests to make sure you're completely fine, but otherwise you should be able to leave later today."

Jack nods. His mom comes over and fawns over him, while the other guys and Kiara just kinda wait their turn. I grin, just sitting there and enjoying the happiness of this situation.

It's gonna be all right.

* * *

_Jack's POV_

"Home, sweet home," I murmur under my breath as I walk into my room, looking around. The familiar setting calms me. A flash of light outside the window catches my eye. I stride over to the window, and see that it's just sunlight reflecting off of a passing car. _'The sun's gonna set soon.'_ I think. But for some reason, I still feel like something's wrong.

_'My necklace'_ I realize. I touch the spot on my neck where the blue-green orb usually rests, feeling unusually empty without it. _'I'll ask Kim about it later.' _

I hear footsteps behind me and turn around. Kim is standing there, leaning against the doorframe.

"Hey, Kim," I say, as she walks over and stands next to me.

"Hey, Jack."

We stand in silence for a while, gazing at the setting sun. "Jack?"

"Hmm?"

"I really, _really _like the color purple right now."

I stare at her, "Why would you bring that up out of no…where…?"

* * *

_Kim's POV_

His trails off as he realizes what I'm talking about. I smile shyly. He smiles back at me and steps forward, placing his hands on my arms just below my elbows. His warm brown eyes slowly slide closed as he leans in. I close my eyes as well, anticipating what is sure to come.

The hands of time stop as our lips meet. The rest of the world melts away, fireworks replacing it. He rubs my arms slowly, up and down. I shiver a little, mentally smiling. He tilts his head slightly and deepens the kiss. His lips move slowly and urgently against mine. His hands move from my forearms to my waist, and he pulls me flush against him. This leaves me free to snake one hand to the back of his neck and the other to bury itself in his hair. I use my body weight to gently push him backwards until he's leaning against a wall.

The need for air finally becomes too great. I pull away for a second to regain my breath and let him do the same, before crashing my lips back onto his. I tug on his hair gently. He groans lowly in response. I repeat the action, wanting to provoke the same reaction. He does so without fail.

When we part, we're both breathing heavily. He leans his forehead against mine and closes his eyes. With the orange rays of the sun shining on his face and highlighting just the right places, he looks absolutely godly.

"Kim?" he says after a while.

"Yeah?"

"I love you. So much."

I smile. "I love you too, Jack."

* * *

_No POV_

At the Seaford Jail, Ty Griffith becomes more and more afraid of textbooks for some strange reason, but he has no idea what brought this on.

The door to his cell opens. He looks up at the two people that entered the room.

"A Mr. Legrand is here to see you," the officer says gruffly as he comes over and handcuffs Ty's hands behind his back. Ty looks up at his visitor. Said man is lugging a large suitcase behind him.

"Abelino?!" he asks incredulously. Michelle Anderson's close friend smiles as the policeman walks out of the room. Ty knows the man because he kept trying to convince him to leave Michelle alone and let her live her life. Ty personally didn't like him very much.

"Yes, eet eez me Mr. Griffith," the large French man chirps happily, his accent shining through his speech. "Michelle says zat you 'ave no respect of ze learning standards for a growing student. So, she wants me to educate you in zis subject! In zis bag, I 'ave all of ze most recent textbooks for grades Pre-K through 10. Zis process will take several months, maybe even years, so I will be visiting you every day until you know zees books inside and out." He smiles as Ty pales.

_'Someone help me!'_ Ty thinks pathetically, as Abelino sits down next to him and takes out a textbook that has to be over a thousand pages long.

* * *

_Jack's POV_

Later, Kim's dad comes and picks her up. Mom had already dropped the other guys off earlier, so now it's just her, Kiara and I at home. We're all sitting in the living room, just enjoying each other's company. At one point, Mom gets a call. I don't know what it was about, but as soon as I heard the words 'educational' and 'textbook', I pretty much blocked out her conversation. After the call, she looks strangely satisfied. As we go back to our silence, Kiara gazes out the glass doors that lead to the backyard porch.

"The sun is setting," she says absentmindedly.

Mom and I look at each other. Through some unspoken agreement, I go upstairs and get _Amber_ and her pick. When I come back down, Kiara and mom are already sitting outside on the swinging bench that we have out there. I sit down on a chair not far from them so that I'll have plenty of elbow room. The first song that pops into my mind is _Help_ by The Beatles. I start playing it, and Mom and Kiara start singing softly.

_"When I was younger, so much younger than today…"_

It's all over. Kiara's back. I'm safe. We're all safe. Dad and Grandma and Grandpa are all peacefully enjoying themselves wherever they are.

And I got to see Kim smile again.

* * *

_No POV_

In a log cabin, very far away, Greg Griffith swears his revenge...

* * *

**Yay! Jack is awake! Everything's gonna be okay! The story's over! My ending was crappy! And, btw, the song that Kim sang was 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri. **

**Ok, I was looking at my reviews the other day, and I was like 'yay, I got 7 more reviews'. But then my mom called me to do something and I had to get up and do it. When i came back I looked at the number of reviews again and I was all like 'WOAH.' O.o**

**I had 212 reviews.**

**It wasn't until now that I really realized the sheer number of them, and for only 12 chapters too! I know this one story that has 70 chapters and 277 reviews. I'm not hating on that person or anything, but when you do the math, I'm actually getting a lot more reviews per chapter than that story that i will not name.**

**I really really REALLY appreciate the reviews from all of you (even, i regretablly admit, the ones from ****_I win._****) I'm not kidding you peoples (Yes, i realize i put a 's' at the end of 'peoples'). **

**Thank you. =)**

**(12/29/12 edit: I just realized that anyone of French heritage that is reading this (you know,, with the whole Abelino thing) may feel insulted. I'm really sorry, I'm not trying to make fun of you guys.)**

**Bye for now,**

**-BP**


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